


divine

by yolkyeomie



Category: K-pop, SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Cameos, Gen, Mentioned Other K-pop Artist(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2019-10-17 08:23:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17556785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yolkyeomie/pseuds/yolkyeomie
Summary: ↠ the power of light is supposed to ward off the evil, but minghao really doesn't have the hang of it





	1. Street Rat

Minghao hid behind a wall, his chest heaving as he kept himself in the shadows. He didn't dare peer over the side, in fear of what he may be greeted by later on. This small grace period was all he needed to replenish the lost energy he had from running for hours without end. He didn't really have any other choice but to run for so long anyways, it was all he could do to survive.

Welcome to the Aero District, the large nation guarded by the huge mountains that surrounds it on the continent of Orenda. Not only was this place always clear skies and full of natural wonders, it was a place of danger and survival. The Aero District was one of the four nations were the people possessed magical powers, each unique to the district. 

Unluckily for Minghao, he was one of the few who... didn't receive these special powers. It was like he was a defect among the super powered people of his home district. He was born without the great powers of the Aero District, which in turn made him an outcast and a target for... some unfortunate games of the people that live here.

Footsteps good be heard getting close to him, making Minghao's heart race as he debated on where to go. "Where'd he go? He was right in front of us earlier!" Someone yelled, frustration weaved into their voice. There was a bit of arguing for a few moments, their words incoherent and indistinguishable due to their fighting. Minghao decided that was the time to start running, needing to get to safety as quick as he could.

"What you all think doesn't matter!" A distant voice yelled, echoing through the alleyway that Minghao had disappeared through. "I want you to _findget away_!" His feet moved on its own, running away from the scene as instinct to live kicked in. Once he broke the through the shadows he was greeted by the bright and shining rays of the sun, blinding his eyes for a second.

Someone shoved him to the side, murmuring curses as they walked past. Minghao huffed, unfortunately having to deal with the regularly rude people of district that weren't constantly trying to kill him. He glanced behind his back, trying to see if he had made it out safely before dashing away again to get his much needed head start. It sucked that he had no such powers, he would have liked to soar above the cloud at one point.

Sky Beast that ruled the skies flew above him in a flock of maybe three or four, blessing him with their presence. Phoenixes that coexisted with the people of the Aero District simply flexed on Minghao as they were free to roam the skies. It sucked, he wondered what it was like to be literally above everything. It must feel nice.

Suddenly high speed winds shot past him, so fast that it cut his cheek like the blade of a sword. He was caught off guard for a second, glancing behind him to see a trio of boys around his age chasing after him. One of them was conjuring up his magic, wind being drawn to the energy ball in his hands.

Minghao began his run again, desperately trying to get away. A crowd began to form in front of him, gasping and pointing at the air as a phoenix began to descend from the sky as if it was some sort of angel. He cursed under his breath, he didn't a crowd stopping for a animal they almost every day. They were in his way and if they didn't move now he was most definitely going to be caught.

However the boys chasing him were probably assuming he was going to take a turn. While normal people would do that, he'd get himself killed if he even thought of moving where they predicted. So Minghao braced himself, diving into the crowd and trying to get lost in them. It was... hard, to say the least. They were all tightly squeezed together, everyone trying to get a good luck at the phoenix that was landing.

Dust flew at the crowd, getting into their eyes and forcing them to close them as the phoenix let out an ear splitting screech. It forced everyone to stop what they were doing and shield themselves away from the dust. Minghao squinted, waving the dust away as he looked up to see what had happened. There say the flaming sky beast, his bright jade eyes staring him down through narrowed eyes. A collar dangle from his neck as it's jet black beak was shoved in front of Minghao's face.

He blinked, unable to take his eyes off the flaming bird. " _Jade_?" The boy questioned, confused on its eye color. Phoenix eyes weren't green they were yellow or even orange. This one was... different. Though, his pondering got him killed. A hand reached out and grabbed his shirt collar, dragging him away from the scene. He reached out towards the phoenix as if he was trying to plead for help. Yet it only stared at him with those jade eyes and did nothing. The runaway has been caught.

 

 

A pain filled scream echoed through the hallway, coming from none other than the powerless boy himself. He has been caught and so his punishment had been pain. He should have been used to it by now, this happened almost all the time to him. Yet as many times as it happened, he could never get used to the intense powers that could come from his fellow Aero District people.

Minghao's back hit the wall, the pain sending a sudden shock into his already aching body. One of the boys from earlier were laughing and picking on one of them who had his arms crossed. "What was that? That was so weak I bet it didn't even scratch him." One spoke, making fun of his " _weak_ " magic abilities.

Minghao frowned as he listened, the boy that attacked him clearly wasn't weak. Or least he was strong enough to _beat the hell out_ of Minghao in one fell swoop. He glared at they spoke, resisting against their pleasure in pain. Though one of them caught on to what Minghao was doing, and his face went from stoic to a little pissed off. He took a few steps towards him, making the two behind him shut up as soon as he started getting close to weaker one.

"You do know why we caught you right?" He inquired, grabbing the boy's shirt and yanking him off the ground. "You must think we're some type of _blood thirsty monsters_ who are just playing with you for fun. I bet that's what is going through your head." He explained, even giving Minghao a chance to speak. Yet it only made a unfortunately cocky aura radiate off the boy as he responded.

"What you're doing right now," Minghao spoke, a smirk on his face as he grabbed the boy's hand. He dug his nails into his skin, watching a pain distorted the boy's face,"sure isn't helping me think otherwise."

The boy shoved Minghao to the ground, grabbing his hand to check if the markings he made were bleeding or not. Sure enough it was, though he didn't even think that Minghao was strong enough to do that. He quickly tried to run away now that they were distracted, but it didn't give him enough time. He had scrambled off the floor and was able to get on his own two feet. Yet when he began running he was caught again in no time

A wall of harsh winds formed in front of him, blocking off his exit. He knew that even if stuck his finger through there he'd lose it almost immediately. He backed away, not wanting to come in contact with the wall in fear of his own safety. The boy, however, backed him into the ones who had chased after him and was placed in a unbearably strong chokehold. Minghao gasped for air, trying to pry the boy away from as best as he could but it was useless.

"You think you can just run away you _rat_!" The boy he dug his nails into spoke, spite oozing out of his voice. He stood in front of him, a sharp eagle eyed glare in his eyes as he began forming a disc in his hand, the wind gathering towards it to make it more powerful and much faster than any of the other attacks. "You _trespassed_ on our land and _stole_ our jewels and riches. So you're going to cough of where you hid them right now. Your _life_ depends on it."

Minghao couldn't even glare back and shape himself up for a challenge. He was too busy trying to get himself out to the choke hold before he passed out. "I.... I didn't _steal_ anything...! I didn't... I didn't trespass either!" He was able to cough out, feeling a little light headed now. He was definitely going to pass out sooner than later. If he passed out now... then he most definitely wouldn't see the light of day ever again.

"I guess you'll lie all the way to your death then." The boy spoke, getting ready to through the disc at Minghao. Though one of his boys grabbed his hand, forcing it upwards so that he couldn't hit anymore. This took him by surprise of course, since one of the boys were indirectly helping Minghao. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Do you really want blood on your hands man? Sure he may just be some weak leper but what if they find him dead in this alleyway?" He spoke, worried that he might be charged with murder. The two argued for a little bit, the disc in his hand getting stronger and stronger as time went by. Though Minghao couldn't see the ending. His eyes fluttered closed, darkness over taking him as he passed out unwillingly.

To his surprise, his eyes opened up again. He was laying on the cold hard floor the alleyway, but the boys who had threatened him were gone. The wall of terrifying wind has disappeared and only claw marks on the wall had remained. What in the hell had happened in those few seconds he had passed out. Thankfully, a nice familiar face had appeared in his line of sight.

"Minghao...? _Minghao_! Oh thank God you're not dead, I didn't think got here in time for a second." The voice spoke, helping the boy into a sitting position as worry continuously claimed his voice. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, trying to make out the somewhat blurry face that was staring him dead in the eyes. After a few aggressive blinks to clear his vision he could make it out to be a very close friend of his.

"J...Junhui? What? When did you get here...?" He questioned. The older boy only gave him a simple as he let go of Minghao, relieved that his friend wasn't dead. Junhui was a great friend of Minghao, they had known each other since they were little and had grown up with each other. It was a little odd how the two of them were friends though. Junhui was able to use magic and Minghao wasn't... the boy could easily kill Minghao if he really wanted.

Yet... Junhui didn't have the normal wind powers like everyone else in the Aero District. He was the odd one out compared to everyone else with magic powers. He could only guess that's why he had stuck around Minghao, but in a way they were one in the same. They were different compared to everyone else they lived around. "I felt like something bad was happening, so I went looking for you and I saw that wall of wind and yelling... I could only guess that you were on the other side so I—"

"How'd you get past that?" Minghao questioned, confused. "You can only use a phoenix to fly over that wall, if you stepped through it you would have died in an instant." He explained, trying to figure out everything about Junhui told him. Junhui only smiled as he whisked his finger in the air, shadows flowing the motion around his fingers like thread. Minghao nodded understanding immediately. "Yeah... that makes a lot more sense now."


	2. Surprise

The sun shines brightly in Minghao's eyes as he stared at the sky, squinting at the flying phoenixes above. It was the day after the events of yesterday, and everything has seemingly calmed down. There wasn't any powerful wind magic users chasing after him like before and he was accompanied by a powerful magic user as well. So if things did attempt to turn south, it wouldn't be as bad as yesterday was.

Yet today wasn't as calm as he liked it in terms of Minghao and his friend Junhui. The two were wandering around the huge city that made up the entirety of the district, without a goal in sight. Well, Minghao didn't have a goal. He was simply following Junhui around as he was the one who was trying to show him something. Though Minghao didn't know if he had the patience for that right now.

"Jun..." He began, trailing off as he tried to find the right words. "You know I'd follow you to the ends of the Earth right?" Minghao questioned, batting his eyes at the boy like an innocent child. Junhui stopped in his tracks and glanced behind him watching as Minghao tried to soften him up for whatever blow he was about to deal to him. He could tell it was taking every muscle in Junhui's body to hold him back from saying something childish that would force him into whatever demands Minghao wanted.

Junhui only nodded as Minghao slung an arm around the boy and spoke,"But this is taking too long. We are wandering aimlessly without a goal in sight... so how about we turn around and go home?" He explained, slowly turning the boy's body so he was facing the other way. He was ready to give him a good shove to get him moving but Junhui resisted fo returned to his original state.

"Come on Minghao, there's something I need to show you!" Junhui protested, tugging on his arm to bring him to wherever. Minghao pulled the other way, not wanting to go on this pointless little journey anymore. Junhui frowned, shadows suddenly creeping up on his arm and towards Minghao in a attempt to intimidate him into doing what he wanted. "You're my best friend but,"He explained, as the shadows seeped onto leper's skin,"I really, really I have to show you this!"

Odd enough, the darkness that has spilt onto Minghao burned. He yelled when he felt heat and a sizzle on his hands before letting go, blowing off his hands in a attempt to cool them down. "What the hell, Jun! That wasn't fair you used magic against me." He said, not upset about the right thing but upset nonetheless.

He gave him a sheepish smile as he slung an arm around the boy. "I'm sorry, it was the only way I could get you to listen. But like look at this, I found it yesterday and I think it belongs to those boys who were messing you." He explained and Minghao narrowed his eyes at him. If it belonged to the boys from the other day, he wanted no part of it. But then a shine caught his eyes and he couldn't help to try and see what it was.

In front of them was three boxes, all filled to the brim with gems and jewelry, sparkling and shiny and most likely costing a fortune. "Where.... in the hell did you find this?" Minghao questioned, glancing up at his supernatural friend for information. Junhui shrugged as he dropped to his knees and rummaged through the box of riches.

"I found it in this abandoned building near a inn somewhere farther in the district. It must be the territory you 'trespassed' right? And look," Junhui explained, pulling out a pendent and flipping it over on its back. The pendent had a symbol printed on it, a thorn crown with the writing of TK on the bottom of it. "It seems like all these riches came from the Tyrant King."

Minghao's mood immediately switched his breathing stopped as his eyes widened. The Tyrant King was the ruler of all the four districts, having absolute power over everyone. Sure you may have a high rank in whatever district you live in, but the Tyrant King can take all that away in just a snap of his fingers. Some say he's a coward for never showing his face and some praise his efforts for keeping control of the four districts that cover the entire continent.

But for the peasants, the lepers with no powers and no wealth, he's a good for nothing dictator that liked to abuse his power. There have been so many lepers that dropped into poverty and driven to madness by the cruelty of those in power around him who take these people for granted. The Tyrant King was the reason for the lepers becoming outcasts in their own homes.

"We have to give this stuff back." Minghao declared, grabbing a whole of the boxes and lifting them up into his arms. "If this is what those boys were looking for... then it being in our sights even this once is dangerous. I don't want to be the one in front of their blade." He explained, turning around to leave with one of the boxes in hand.

Junhui watched him, shocked on the boy's decision before he tried to stop him. "Well... what if it's not theirs? Then it would be the Duke's! What if they stole it from the Duke here... if we return who knows what type of fortune we'd receive!" He countered, trying his best to get the boy to turn around and do as he says. "You don't want to be stuck as a broke leper anymore... do you?"

Minghao stopped in tracks, staring down at the jewels that shined like a star in the night sky. "I was almost tortured over this... possibly even injured and left for dead if you didn't show up, Junhui." He explained, his grip on the box tightening as he bit his lip. "If I... if I don't return this to them then they'll plague me for the rest of my life until I really die, I'll be left the victim of those bastards for life."

Junhui closed his mouth, nothing more was needed to be said. If Junhui was a good enough friend, he'd respect his wishes and let Minghao go. A deep sight escaped his mouth as he grabbed a box that he had left, and placed it atop of the others he carried. "Fine. Do as you wish. But let me keep this one at least?" His eyes shined as he held up the pendent from before. Minghao gave him a quick glare before the boy unwillingly dropped the pendent in the box.

 

 

"Which place did he say it was again?" Minghao mumbled to himself, looking around the area. He had convinced Junhui to name drop the building he had found the boxes in, but it was rather dark outside. He couldn't exactly see what was around him and he didn't have any light source to him either. He was stuck with just wandering around and hoping for the best.

"I wish I see goddammit... why is it so dark outside suddenly?" He questioned, squinting as hie eyes struggled to adjust to such scarce light. Minghao felt the boxes slipping out of hands and toppled to the ground, spewing out all the riches that were locked inside of them. He panicked for a second, his nerves must have been on a all time high if he suddenly dropped them like that. He got on his knees and began picking up all they feel out, wanting to make it look like he have never even touched the thing before now.

Yet while he was off guard, the boy was attacked. Someone suddenly reached out towards him, yanking on his arm to form him to stand up. Without a moments hesitation he and the attacker tumbled to the floor as Minghao attempted to trip him up. The two let go of each other, needing a small amount of time to recover from the sudden fall. Minghao tried to take this chance to run away from his attacker but he was a few seconds too slow.

The attacker grabbed his throat, their grip tightening around his neck. Minghao squirmed around, desperate to get the attacker off of him and free his neck. With no air filling his lungs, his consciences began to waver. He felt like coughing, but that would only quick the process, he wanted to attack him but the pain was so bad that he couldn't exactly stop it from happening. "Stop it. Before you kill the thing."

The attacker huffed, letting go of Minghao. The boy took in a much need breath, his lungs filling up from what it craved and coughing like a mad man. He rubbed his neck vigorously trying to soothe the pain somewhat as he glanced behind him. His eyes widened in unwanted fear as he discovered who had attacked him.

The three boys who had chased after him like he was their prey, the same boys who he was trying to return the riches too. "What... what the hell do you want from me?!" Minghao yelled, angry coursing through him as he stood up on both legs. "You chased after me before you stupid jewels and now I'm returning them instead of keeping them for myself. Yet you attack me like I'm some sort of monster?! What in the actual hell is wrong with your head?!"

"We found something... greater than just the jewels." One of them spoke, giving Minghao a suspicious grin. Minghao was suddenly forced into the ground, one of the boys stepping on his back and placing all their weight into his foot so that he would struggle to get up. The boy cursed to himself, trying to get up with as much strength he could muster. Yet his arms trembled from so much pressure being put on them that he'd soon give up.

"Wouldn't it be fun... to plague you for the rest of your life? Make you are little toy to play with whenever we ever so desired." One of the boys spoke, crouching in front of Minghao and forcing him to look up at them. Those words sunk deep into his mind, his chest heaving up and down in anger and somewhat fear. Pain dug through his chest like a knife as he responded to him.

"You... you followed me?" He questioned, his whole world crashing down on itself as he realized the situation he was in. The boy only smirked at him, digging his nails into Minghao's face just as he had done with his arm. Minghao let out an ear splitting screech of pain, unable to stop him. Yet the boy's whole body began to give off a faint light, glowing in the eerie darkness of the night as the boy continued on

"Doesn't it sound like fun, leper? Being my little torture toy for the rest of your life?" He spoke, pulling down on Minghao's hair to make it feel as if he was pulling it out. "I'll beat the shit out of you so bad that you won't even be able to walk the next morning. I don't want any jewels and I don't want any high ranking class. All I want to do is watch you suffer. And no one will be there to save you."

The light flowed bright by this time, straining the eyes of the boys' eyes as they had to adjust to the sudden light source. "I will not let you have your way. I will not bend to the will of some stuck up kid!" He yelled, the light suddenly bursting off of Minghao and into the boys around him. The sudden burst sent them flying into building and trees, far enough away from Minghao where he'd be safe from them all.

He stood up, a little wobbly from the sudden blast. The light he had given off dimmed down until the boy had returned to normal, no longer glowing like a firefly. His head was spinning, his body ached, and Minghao was very sure that he was giving off some sort smoke. "What... how did I...?" He mumbled, light headed from the huge attack until he couldn't take it anymore. He fell to the ground, his eyes fluttering closed as he body had to recover from whatever just happened to him.


	3. Overdue Stay

Minghao shifted around in his sleep, bothered by the awful dream he was having. His whole body shivered with goosebumps and a breeze of cold air brushed his face. Slowly his eyes began to open again, blinding by the bright light of the ever shining sun in the aero district. Minghao raised his hand to cover his face, squinting his now awake eyes at the rays of sunlight. Yet there was something off about the area around him. 

He heaved himself up, feeling something stuff under his hands instead of the hard ground. That's when he decided now was probably a good time to take a good look at the room he was in. It wasn't anything special, with one window opened on his side and a desk next to (what he now figure out was) the bed. Minghao narrowed his eyes as he stared at his surroundings, pulling one of his legs close to his chest. "How... did I get here?" 

The last thing Minghao could remember was collapsing onto the ground and passing, but he was definitely outside. He never woke up and walked into a building. So... how did he go from outdoors to indoors. The door to the room suddenly squeaked as the door knob turned, slowly opening up. Startled, he whipped his head towards that direction, trying to see who or what was entering. 

In stepped a boy, probably just a little older than him. He peered his head through the crack he made with the door as he spotted Minghao. "Oh, you woke up!" He spoke, genuinely glad to see him. He took one step forward and all of the boy's defenses were put, not trusting a stranger so easily. He's learned that that's kind of a bad idea.

"Woah, woah, don't get any closer to me." Minghao stated, scooting back on the bed so there was a bigger distance between the two. Though he ended up falling off the edge, not paying attention where the ends of the bed lie. He hit the ground with a thud in a very inelegant way, which probably lowered the intimidation level may or may not have had.

"Ow... God that hurt..." He muttered, getting off the ground and rubbing the back of his head. Minghao heard stifled laughing behind him, and he quickly turned to the stranger that had entered the room. The boy quickly shut himself up, whistling go distract him from the laughing that had occurred.

"Are you okay, though?" He asked, walking towards Minghao. When he saw Minghao tense up as he got closer, he stopped and put his hands up. "I'm not just talking about when you fell. I meant last night, I saw you collapsed on the floor so I brought you here."

A stranger? A person minghao has never met before in his entire life found him and attempted to take care of him while he was passed out? Though the gestured sounded nice, he didn't trust it. He needed to get away just in case this guy was just like the rest of the district when it came to lepers. So he did the only thing he could do in this situation.

Minghao slid open the catch of the window, and pulled up the rail so that it was wide open to the outside world. The stranger seemingly caught on to what was going on and started to panic. "Wait, what the hell are you doing?! Don't jump out the window!" He exclaimed, rushing over before Minghao could get a single limb part out of the room.

The stranger grabbed a hold of his waist and pulled him back, reaching for the catch to close it back up. "Hey! Let go of me!" He exclaimed, kicking his legs around and trying to pry him off. What if this stranger was with those boys from earlier? Is that why he didn't want him to escape the room? Desperately built up in him as he tried his best to get out of the stranger's grasp, his hands dimly glowing as he used as much strength as possible to get away from him.

After a couple of seconds, a sizzling noise could be heard, and a little bit of smoke began to arise from Minghao's hands. The stranger helped, dropping Minghao as he went to inspect his arms. "Ow, ow! That burns so much..." The stranger hissed, slowly on his now fresh burn wounds. Minghao only stared at him before looking down at his own hands. How... did he do that? Did he just burn this random person? But how? He doesn't have any powers!

And then it struck him, the event from yesterday that happened. He could suddenly remember how he got out of that sticky situation he was in with those boys who were attacking him. He used some kind of magic blast that was emitting off of his body and sent them flying. Yet that didn't make any sense. Minghao was a leper! He had no magic abilities like everyone else. He was ordinary, powerless!

"I'm in the right district right?" The stranger asked, looking back at Minghao. "This is the District with the wind users right? People here are supposed to use air magic right?" He question him. All he could do was nod, answering the boy's question willingly. "Then... you must be the Pyro District! Why is a fire user all the way in the Aero District?"

"What? I'm not from the Pyro District. I was born and raised here." Minghao explained, caught off guard by the stranger's conclusion.

The stranger narrowed his eyes as he spoke,"So... you're a hybrid...?" Minghao shook his head a no in response. "Purebred? You're a purebred from the Aero District? No way!" He opened his mouth to speak, but the two were interrupted by loud banging at the door. It took the two by surprise, not expecting anyone else to be arriving.

"Hey! You were supposed to be gone days ago! Your time at this inn has been up and you never paid!" They shouted him, aggressive deep in their tone as they counted to bang on the door. The stranger panicked looking around for a way to escape since the door wasn't a option. He bit his lip as his eyes landed on the window Minghao had attempted to open earlier.

He gave him a awkward smile as he opened the catch of the window. "So... can you do a perfect landing after jumping out?" He questioned as he urged the boy to the window. The banging only got louder and louder as Minghao stared at the stranger witha hypocritical expression. Yet in the end he opened up the railing and stepped outside the window without a second thought.

"If you fall, I'm not catching you." He stated, looking back at the stranger. There was hint of shock on his face before smiling back and climbing out of the window after him. Once the two were both out and on the roof, they clung to the wall so they wouldn't fall. Fortunately, they'd escape the inn keeper. Unfortunately, they were on the fourth floor which was extremely high for them. If they fell, it was over.

"Look, that building over there." The stranger exclaimed, pointing out to what he found. "It's as tall as the floor we're on, why don't we try and climb in there to get in the ground." Minghao froze, his breathing hitched as he saw the abandon building he was talking about. It was the same building that he passed out at, the building that belonged to the boys who tried to torment him.

His whole body told him not to go inside. What if those boys from yesterday were there? They would just jump him again like they did last night, and Minghao didn't know if the same thing would occur to save him like it did. "I-I can't." He stated, his feet shifting backwards so that he was a little farther. "Going there is a death sentence for me, I can't do that!"

"You'll have to, that inn keeper is searching for my head. It's the only way to get away." He tried to convince him.

Minghao frowned, whipping his head towards the stranger. "That sounds like a you problem! I don't even know why I'm following you, I have my own life to live!" He yelled, his feet slipping off the roof. He let out a gasp and he slid down, almost falling off the building entirely. That was until he was caught by the stranger, who was struggling to keep himself and Minghao from falling.

"You have... to trust me!" He told him, heaving as he pulled Minghao onto the roof again. Minghao frowned, yet his grip tightened on the stranger as he began trying to get on the roof with his help. Once he was finally on it once again, the two shuffled their way towards the abandoned building. It would his first time ever entering this building... would he now be technically trespassing like those boys claimed.

Once they were close enough, they moved from the roof of the fourth floor to a balcony that protruded of the building's side. The stranger stepped onto the balcony first, making sure that it was safe to walk on. He then urged Minghao over, signaling that it was safe to cross.

Skeptical, he placed one foot on the balcony in caution. It creaked with an awful noise which set Minghao back. "If I walk on this balcony it's going to fall." He stated, keeping away from it fear of possibly falling through. The stranger have him a look, not really wanting to deal with him being extremely cautious.

"I promise it won't fall. It's perfectly fine! See?" He questioned, jumping up and down on the balcony. It squeaked and creaked like madman, shifting up and down as the stranger continued to jump. Yet it never wavered to the bring of collapse, which somewhat proved his point. With a little bit of frustration, Minghao bit back any fears of falling and joined the stranger.

He flinched when the balcony creaked, but nothing happened afterwards. For the most part, everything was fine. Nothing was breaking and nothing was snapping to startle them. "See what I mean, it's perfectly fine—" The stranger grinned though it was only for a second. Boards began to snap in half and the floor began to sink on the two before breaking into pieces and forcing the two to fall through. "Oh goddammit!"


	4. Prophecy and the Prophets

"Ming... Ming! Wake up!" A voice called, shaking the boy's shoulders. Minghao only grumbled, shifting around and refusing to wake up. However he soon jolted awake when a stinging pain suddenly arose from his shoulder. He winced as he threw himself up, rubbing his shoulder as he groggily tried to wake himself up. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, the blurry room he was in soon becoming clear as day.

The room was old and dusty, paint peeling off the walls and the flowers creaking constantly. There were smashed boards here and there, and a broken ceiling that was just barely hanging onto life. "Wha.... what happened? Where am I?" Minghao mumbles, rubbing his head in confusion.

"I should be the one asking that question." He turned his head to see Junhui giving him a look, his arms crossed in crossed in frustration. Minghao opened his mouth to explain but the shadow manipulator started speaking before he could. "This is where you've been this whole time? I was searching for you all day yesterday since you never came back after returning those guy's stuff."

"Oh..." Minghao trailed off, trying to remember what he meant. And then it hit the boy like a phoenix digging it's claws into his back. "Oh. Yeah about that... I did return they're stuff but I got... caught up with other stuff. Yeah, that's exactly what happened." He attempted to lie, giving the boy an awkward smile 

Junhui rolled his eyes standing up and holding out his hand to him. "You're extremely lucky that those bastards haven't come by here yet. Who knows what would have happened if they caught you here alone." Minghao could only laugh, knowing damn well that he already had to deal with the worst of them just a day before. But Junhui didn't need to know that, it wasn't important.

"Wait... stranger. Where did stranger go?" Minghao questioned, looking around the area in a panic. He tried to walk around the area, but he felt a pain begin to ache in his legs. He pulled up a pants sleeve only to notice an ugly, bleeding bruise that ran down it. He winced, suddenly remembering the only reason he was in this room was because he feel through the floor with the stranger.

"Who?" Junhui asked, confused on what was going on. "Whoever you're looking for you should try again later... that's a pretty bad wound on your leg." He stated, grabbing Minghao hand and attempting to leave with him. Yet the leper snatched his hand away from him, a frown on his face as he turned around.

"No... that stranger was with me when I fell through... he must be hurt too. We can't leave him here!" Minghao protested, not just against Junhui but against his own body. He shouldn't be searching for a person he didn't know... it was probably for the best that the two parted ways right now while he still could. Yet he just had this feeling that if he left the stranger here now, he'd regret it later.

"Wait— you fell through what now? I leave you alone for one day and you're falling through things and making friends with strangers?" Jun commented. "This is crazy Minghao, what have you been doing this entire time, for real. Clearly you weren't only just returning some jewelry to those jerks."

"Oh shut up!" Minghao yelled, getting slightly annoyed with Junhui's attitude. He felt his body warm up, emitting a slight glow in the somewhat dark room the two were in at the moment. "Just... just help me find this guy okay? I... I owe him. Not anything bad but he just helped me with something. And now I'm going to help him." Oh how much of a hypocrite he sounded right now.

Junhui was taken back by this sudden glow that he was giving off, he was at a lost for words. For a couple of seconds he continuously tried to speak, wanting to point out the obvious of the odd glow he was giving off. "I don't know either. It keeps happening... the glowing stuff. I-I don't why but I just started going this yesterday."

"Nice to know you two are having a little chitchat." A voice sprung up, catching both of the boys off guard. The two got on edge, preparing themselves for the worst to come. Junhui began conjuring up the shadows, twisting and turning them as if they were just a thread on a spinning wheel. Unfortunately for Minghao that light he was giving off died down and the warmth of his body returned to its normal temperature.

In stepped the stranger, pushing a box along the floor as it rumbled in his grasp. The boy was covered in dust and scars, his hair ruffled up in a huge mess as blood trickling down from his lip. Minghao immediately ease, yet his eyes continued to dart from the box to the stranger. "Are you okay...? How did you end all the way over there when we fell in the same spot?"

"You can thank your friend over there." The stranger stated, sitting atop the box he had pushed into the room. He pointed to the object he sat on as he spoke. "Your friend seems to think it's real nice to send some man eating beast after me even though all I die was breathe in his direction." The stranger explained. 

Minghao shot a quick glare towards Junhui, clearly not having any of his excuses anymore. Apart of that boy's powers was to create almost anything out of the shadows he possessed. He had figured out a way to make these canine-like hunting beast made completely of darkness. He had full command over them, and the beast followed his ever order. "What? He's a stranger! I didn't know who he was! How am I supposed to trust that he hadn't done something to harm you!?"

"Luckily, I stopped that thing before it killed me. Now you can figure out who I am and if I did any thing to hurt your friend." The stranger said, a smile appearing on his face though his eyes practically screamed mischief. Junhui opened his mouth to protest but ultimately deciding against it.

The stranger sat up with a smirk as he crossed his arms. "So without further ado, I guess a introduction is needed? Especially for your sunlight powered friend over there." He pointed towards Minghao before continuing on with his introduction. "The name is Choi Seungcheol. If I had any friends they'd call me Cheol. I'm from the Terra and I'm here on a mission. Nice to meet one of you."

"Wait what do you mean one of you—" Junhui started, but Minghao refuses to let him finish. The last thing he needed was Junhui starting a fight between the stranger, finally now known as Seungcheol. He didn't feel like dealing with his somewhat sharp remarks and quick come backs.

"Nice to meet you, Seungcheol. I'm Minghao and this is my close friend, Junhui. Please elaborate on what you mean by mission." He stated, beginning as polite as he possible could with him. 

Though Seungcheol only snorted, a snarky smirk appearing on his face. "So now you wanna be friendly, huh? Well I suppose you should know... seeing as you're probably involved with what I'm here for anyways."

"Just explain what you mean, man! You're getting boring." Junhui exclaimed. Minghao shot a glare towards the shadow user, nudging him a bit for him to stop. He's already done enough with this guy, the most they could do was sit down and listen to what he had to say.

Seungcheol nodded as he began recalling the mission he was on. "I've been sent to this place due to a prophecy I received in my hometown in the Terra District. Due to this prophecy, I'm currently traveling through all four districts to find twelve members of it and complete it. I wouldn't be here right now if it didn't seem important."

"A prophecy?" Junhui questioned, unsure of whether he should trust this guy or not. "What kind? You said it's important right? What's in it?" If he had to be honest, Minghao was also curious about the prophecy itself. Since it was so big that this native Terraean had to leave his own district to fulfill it, he wanted curiosity to kill the cat right now.

Seungcheol thought about it for a second, trying to find the right words to put into his next statement. "There's this group of people that people in the Terra District call the Divine, they're a group of unusually powered people with magic out of the norm. The prophecy I was told about said they lived in each of the four districts in the Orenda continent but I just don't know where they all are."

"Unusually powered people, right?" Minghao questioned and Seungcheol nodded his head. "You've already got one. Junhui here, as you can tell, can control the shadows! That's definitely different from everyone else here in the Aero District, who all can manipulate the winds to their will." He explained.

"Yeah that's right, and I guess you can count Ming in it too..." Junhui added, glancing over towards his friend. "Originally I would have never believed that he'd be in a prophecy, but now it seems like he's got powers that he developed late. But they aren't normal powers like everyone else. So Ming and me are in this prophecy together..." he seemed satisfied with this answer he came up with before skeptically looking at Seungcheol. "But what about you?"

"Me? Oh that's easy. Clearly I'm the leader because I was given this prophecy." He explained. The two rolled their eyes at him, not liking the amount of confidence that he was aggressively giving off. Though Seungcheol gave them an apologetic smile before speaking,"Sorry I thought I'd be funny. I have the power to control magma, isn't that cool? Seems like a Pyroian power, but here I am! A Terraean with a fire power!"

"So you do have a point to exist in this prophecy." Junhui commented. Minghao had to resist punching his friend in the stomach, but it was hard. He had to grab his hand and force it away from Junhui in a desperate attempt to save his friend from a pummeling. "But that's besides the point now. There's three out of thirteen currently at the moment. So only ten more are needed to be found... but why are so many of us unusually superpowered begin gathered together?"

Seungcheol bit his lip. "The gypsy said... the divine had to take down the Tyrant King. Not just overthrow him... but kill him." Minghao and Junhui we're both left in shock, words unable to escape their mouths as they processed this new information. Them? Kill the Tyrant King? That's impossible! Nobody has ever seen the king, nobody has ever even heard his voice. How the hell were they going to kill him?

"Crazy, I know. Every single odd that you could possibly think of is stacked against us." Seungcheol continued, a somewhat defeated look on his face. "Trust me, when I first heard that the Divine had to kill the Tyrant King, I thought there was no way that we'd succeed."

"Well we won't know unless we try right?" Minghao inquired, trying to give off a more optimistic view on the situation. It was practically impossible to find and kill the Tyrant King. There was zero information on him, no one knows where we lived and no one knows what powers he holds. His appearance? Kept a secret. His voice? Not a single recording. It would be tough to even find his last location. 

"But think about it. I was leper literally 24 hours ago." Minghao began, an awkward smile on his face. "Now I have powers. Jun uses shadows in his day to day life, you have control over magma! We are literally a living example of making the impossible possible! So... maybe it's not so impossible to defeat the Tyrant King." 

Junhui only smiled at Minghao while Seungcheol nodded in agreement. "You're not wrong, kid. I guess we should just keep that mentality while trying find the other members of the Divine and also trying to find out more about the Tyrant King. The more we know about him, the better our odds are on defeating him."

"I'll help you with the other member the divine." Minghao offered, a smile on his face. "There's this one guy in the district that's really weird... he doesn't have natural air magic like everyone else in this district and he has a reputation for it. Though it's not a very good one."

"Oh I know who you're talking about!" Junhui exclaimed, his eyes widening as his cover his mouth. Seungcheol seemed lost, looking at both boys in confusion as he tried to get an answer of them. "You're talking about that boy with that killed all those birds when we were little... poison dude... ugh what was his name... it wasn't something Kwan right?"


	5. Poisonous Situation

"I don't think you know where you are going." Minghao commented, walking after Junhui with his arms crossed. When he didn't get a response, he only smirked. The boy didn't want to be proven wrong, but that was kinda hard when he looked like he was wandering around aimlessly without really knowing what he was doing. "If you wanna find that guy, I think we should ask around to see if anyone has seen him today."

Junhui let out a groan when he heard Minghao valid suggestion, wanting to show that he could find the boy on his own. However it was clear that was going to happen so he frowned and turned to face him. "Fine. We'll go ask people about this guy if you ever so desire." He agreed, growing pouty and annoyed as he watched him. Minghao only have him a cheeky yet thankful smile as he began walking in the opposite direction of where Junhui was going in the first place. "But who exactly will you be asking? Just any random person or?"

Minghao had to conceal a smug look on his face as he lead the shadow manipulator down an alley way, glancing around for any living person. However all he got were the drip drop of leaky pipes and an every so often meow from some sort of cat. "This is the right alley right? I haven't been to this guy in a long time." He mumbled, stopping in his tracks to think.

Junior snickered at him, not even Minghao knew what he was doing. "You looking for someone?" A sudden voice arose, catching both boys off guard. The two screamed for a good two seconds, turning around to see who had tried to pick a fight with the two of them. Yet they were greeted by a boy of younger age, staring at them with a cheeky smile on his face as he hung upside down from a broken pipe hanging off the side of the building.

A smile slowly began to spread across Minghao's face as he spoke to him. "Samuel." He stated the boy's name as he hoped down from the pipe, standing in front of the two with his hands in his pockets. Samuel was a somewhat known face around the Aero District, much more known that Minghao and Junhui could have ever wished to be. The boy knew dirt and the location of almost everyone, though how was a mystery.

Minghao knew that he was friends with the guy they were currently searching for, or at least he hoped he was. The wild child may have been known all around the district but it wasn't very clear on whether people actually knew him personally. Yet Minghao remembered hearing the guy they were looking for shout and boast about how he was friends with such a rambunctious kid.

"Listen, we need your help." Minghao stated. Junhui stood behind him, his arms crossed as his eyes darted from his friend to the kid. The two were an intimidating duo for sure, Jun had the ability to bend shadows to his will and Minghao just looked scary in general thanks to the long bangs in front of his eyes that he refused to cut. "There's a boy we are looking for, someone you may or may not know."

Samuel glanced up at both of them, as if he was trying to determine whether or not he should listen to them. Though he soon smiled at the two as he placed an hand on Minghao's shoulder. "I would help you, but I think you should help yourself first." He advised, nodding his head as he let his own advise sink into his head. The two older boys gave him a skeptical look, especially Junhui. 

When Samuel noticed the confused looks he has received, he let his hand drop from Minghao's shoulder. "Someone came by earlier, well more like a trio came by. They were looking for your last location, but I hadn't seen you for awhile so I couldn't really give them much information."

"Trio?" Minghao questioned, letting everything process in his head. He had to think about it for a second, who would be on the hunt for someone as unimportant as him? Definitely no one in power, of course, and he didn't have any friends other than Junhui. Though we quickly receive his answer as a light bulb went off in his head. "Those boys from a few days ago... they're still after me?"

"What?" Junhui questioned, out of the loop of what was happening. He forgot he didn't tell the boy exactly what had happened the night he disappeared for a day. Minghao only smiled at him, giving him an okay sign and hoping that he wouldn't ask anymore questions. 

"Thank you for the very helpful information but," He began, glancing back at Junhui for a second and turning his attention to Samuel. "We are currently looking for someone and that's much more important than whoever is looking for me." Minghao explained, hoping that the boy would understand. It must look a little weird, two grown men trying to have a serious conversation with a 17 year old who knew everything about everyone.

Samuel shrugged, all ears to hear what the two wanted. "His name... it was something kwan I believe? He is an unusually powered Aeroan that claims he knows you personally." Minghao described, hoping what he has was enough for Samuel to figure out. "We need to find him and quickly. If you knew where he was that would great."

"Seungkwan?" The boy asked, smiling at the two as he pointed out of alleyway. "Yeah I know him. I last spoke to him awhile ago, but I know he'd be around Café Pinwheel around this time. However I think its a little too dangerous to go chasing after him right now." He warned the two.

"Dangerous? Why'd you say that?" Junhui asked, leaning over Minghao's shoulder to listen in better. Samuel glanced around the three, trying to make sure no one else was around to hear him. He leaned close towards the two so only they'd be able to hear what he was saying.

"I heard a rumor that the owner of Café Pinwheel called the guards they came personally from the duke himself on him today." Samuel explained to them, not wanting to get caught for spreading an already serious rumor to the two of them. "I don't know what he did, but I think I saw the guards earlier searching for him."

And cue the yelling of guards, rushing down the main streets atop phoenixes and horses as they rushed in the direction of the Café Pinwheel. Junhui and Minghao looked at each other in dismay, before darting down the alley as fast as possible. They found the prophet before they could. "Thank you Samuel!" Minghao yelled, glancing over his shoulder as he did his final goodbye and skidded to a stop in the main street.

Junhui glanced up towards the sky and pointing up at the nicely armored phoenixes that flew above everyone else. "If we run on foot we'll be too late, they'll have caught the guy before we could even get there." He stated, though was shocked by the fact that Minghao kept running anyways, much faster than Junhui could run.

"No, you won't make it by the time they get there! I will." He commented as he began his mad dash after the guards. Thanks to his many years of running away for survival, his body has practically adapted for the need for speed. If it hadn't, he'd be dead right where he stood years ago. He was fast, agile, and with enough smarts he could muster up he'd be able to make his sprint quick and effortless.

Though, it wouldn't hurt to be a little faster with maybe some magic up his sleeve. While he now somehow has the powers to make this whole chase quicker, he didn't know how to control them. He didn't know what triggered them to activate even. So magic for him was useless. Though that's when he felt something pick him up by the shirt collar, lifting him up off the ground and into the air.

He concealed a scream when he saw Junhui there, riding on the back of a shadow beast that has picked up Minghao like a pup. He smirked at the boy as he repeated towards they came straight from his mouth,"You won't make it by the time they get there." He stated as the beast did all the running. Minghao rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he practically swung in the air thanks to this unusually large beast that Junhui had created.

The beast came to an abrupt halt, taking both boys by surprised as they held in the ugly feeling in their stomachs from this surprised. They glanced down to spot Seungcheol standing there in front of them, smiling at the beast with mind eyes. This quite literally caused the shadow beast to shrink in size, almost as if Seungcheol was internally scolding it. The two were soon on the ground when it completely changed sizes, hanging off Minghao's shirt and leaving Junhui fast first on the ground.

"Nice to see you two again." Seungcheol states, glancing behind him before pointing to the building. "Is this the place you were headed?" Minghao looked up to a sign, which thankfully spotted the words Café Pinwheel. It seems like they made it in time before the guards could.

"I told you." Minghao heard, looking behind him to see that Junhui was speaking to him. The boy got off of the ground, dusting himself and yanking the shadow beast off of his shirt. He turned around to make some sort of remark but was cut off by screaming and the ugly sound of shattering plates.

It put all three of the boys on edge as they heard another bloodcurdling scream sound from the side of Café Pinwheel. "It sounds like someone is getting murdered in there." Minghao pointed out, as they all cautiously slipped inside of the somewhat freakish place. Seungcheol was the first to enter, pulling open the door as peeking in to see what happened. Junhui and Minghao did the same, glancing around the interior of the building.

Glass plates and cups were shattered on the ground with one frightful woman standing behind the counter. She trembled as she held a plate in her hand, trying to calm herself and resist another scream. Minghao's eyes trailed across the room, spotting a man drop dead on the floor. There was no blood leaking out of them, not a stain anywhere around him to signify the attempt was done with a weapon either.

He shuttered as his eyes finally landed on their current target, Seungkwan. The boy was hiding behind a chair, taking cover from the plates and glass that has been flying across the room for who knows how long. "What happened?" Seungcheol asked, crouching down beside the lady to give her comfort. However she only responded in a negative way, holding a broken plate up to his neck.

"Get... get away from me! I bet your just like that murderer who killed my husband!" She yelled, spitting on the word murderer. Though Seungkwan spring up from where he hid a frown on his face. Everyone turned towards him, skeptically looks on their faces as they tried to determine whether he really killed someone or not. The woman threw the plate at him, smashing on the ground not too far away from the boy.

"Hey! Listen lady, I didn't kill him." He stated, though looked as though he had to switch his words around. "Well... more like I didn't mean too. I didn't know that that would happen! He took me surprise and in self defense I retaliated by using my magic—" The boy tried to explain himself, yet the woman only screamed again, not wanting to hear the words coming out of his mouth.

"We gotta get him out of here." Minghao said, glancing at both Seungcheol and Junhui. "But how? It's clear he didn't commit it on purpose but the guards will be here any minute now." The three were stuck, not sure on what to do at the moment. That's when Seungcheol's eyes began to sparkle with a plan, a bad one Minghao could sense.

"I'm gonna need you to get that guy out of here as fast as possible." Seungcheol told Minghao, pointing towards Seungkwan who stood there confused and wrongly accused. He grabbed Junhui's wrist and pulled him towards him, smirking at the boy. "And I'm gonna need you to be with me."

 

 

"Thanks for them back there." Seungkwan said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he started a conversation. Minghao glanced him a literally surprised that the boy was actually speaking to him. The boy did just as Seungcheol told him to earlier, he grabbed the boy's arm and fled the building through the backdoor as fast as he could. The two sprinted aimlessly in any direction that was away from the building and guards that would soon follow suit. "For the whole... saving me thing... yeah that." 

He snorted containing any laughter that tried to escape his mouth. "Don't worry about it! But that lady sounded really scared of you." Minghao pointed out, trying to ease the conversation into his desired subject. "What actually happened? It looked like a murder scene took place by the way the café looked with the plates thrown around everywhere... plus the literally dead man on the floor."

Seungkwan groaned, covering his face with his hands. Minghao could just feel the embarrassment rise up from him like heat as he tried to find the words to explain himself. "It's all because of these stupid powers of mine!" He exclaimed, the words seemingly coming out with a bitter taste. "Her husband came up to me but I didn't notice him there... so he touched my shoulder and I got jumpy and..."

He began motioning with his hands a gas emitting from his skin before jabbing the hair with a hand. "Just like that, he dropped to the floor." Seungkwan explained, as if Minghao really got all of that. Though he decided against telling him he didn't understand and just let him finish. "Then the lady called me a monster and started screaming and throwing glass at him. I was lucky enough to even get out before she started to through knives or something."

The boy nodded, trying to figure what the whole hand movement thing still. "So you've got some sort of... gaseous power right?" He questioned and Seungkwan nodded his head regretfully. Minghao smiled at him, trying to find a way to cheer the boy up. "That's cool! Your powers! I love to have something like that but I'm just a..." He cut himself off, realizing what he was going to say. He's been calling a leper for so long that's it's become a habit to use it as a way to compliment people.

Though, Seungkwan didn't seem to pick up on it. "No it's not. Not when you get accused for murder because of it. You'd think I've have this whole district bending to my will right??" He exclaimed, extending his arms out as if he was trying to capture the whole sky. However he put his arms down, a childish frown growing on his face. "But I'm just some guy who everyone makes fun off because of one mistake I made as a child."

"It's better than being hunted down all your life." Minghao muttered, but it wasn't low enough. He earned himself a questionable glance from Seungkwan, who wanted an explanation to on what he meant. Though he panicked and faked a smile as he tried to turn his attention to something else. "Oh... uh... look! My friends are back!" He told him.

The boy glanced over and Minghao's fake out was right. Both Junhui and Seungcheol ran up the two, clearly tired out and practically sweating. He opened his mouth to question what happened but Jun spoke before he could. "Cheol just turned Café Pinwheel into a sauna!"

Seungcheol flinched at the mere fact they Junhui used a nickname on him while Minghao seemed genuinely confused. "I'm sorry he did what now?" He asked, needing some clarification on what happened. Seungkwan looked like he was going to faint at the mere fact that the towards Café Pinwheel and sauna were placed in the same sentence.

"God you should have seen it Ming." Junhui told him, grabbing the boy and shaking his shoulders as he spoke. His eyes practically sparkled as he started reenacting the whole scenario. The boy pointed to the ground as he spoke. "So the lady was on the ground right here when you left right? And she jumped up as soon as she saw that guy escape before the guards came."

Minghao nodded, listening to his friend's babbling. "So Seungcheol grabbed her arm like we were in some sort for romance world but then forced her to sit back down where she was. And then he touched the ground and the whole room started to tremble! Then that's where I come in and he told me to cloak the whole building in darkness so of course I happily obliged to do so..."

Seungcheol stood next to Minghao, unable to keep a smile from growing on his face. "So we took care of the lady so she won't try to call the Aeroan guards him anymore." He stated, pointing towards Seungkwan who was intently listening to Junhui's reenactment. "I think all we have to do now is inform this guy of what's going on and then we can get ready to find the next prophet in this prophecy."

Minghao nodded as he watched the two boys in front of him. "We should be careful. I found out that those guys who attacked me that night are searching for me. It would be best to get out of this district as soon as possible." He informed the boy, who only nodded his head in agreement. "So should we call him over now to explain it or?"

Seungkwan gasped in awe as he watched Junhui use his shadows to create mock steam for his retelling. Seungcheol thought about for a second before shaking his head. "Nah, let him be for now." He ultimately decided as he looked up in the air. "I think we have a bigger problem heading our way."

Confused, the boy glanced up. He immediately spotted a bird hovering above the newly formed quartet, though it seemed small at first. That was until it suddenly started swooping down towards them at a extremely high speed. Seungcheol narrowed his eyes up at the bird as it grew larger in size the closer it got. "What the hell is that?"

It let out a screech, the sound echoing through the entire area and back. Minghao could immediately identify what it was, and if was only proven what it was even more when he saw embers trail behind. "Everyone move out the way! Phoenix incoming!" He yelled, alarming both Seungkwan and Junhui. If you lived in the Aero District long enough, you knew being in the line of sight of an angry phoenix swooping in was dangerous.

The bird screeched once again as it clawed at the boys, trying its hardest to dig its talons into human flesh. To this bird, they were simply just another snack on its menu. It was a little odd though as for the most part, Aeroans and phoenixes has a relatively good relationship. So why was this one trying to attack them? Maybe it went feral?

That's when Minghao saw it. The bird swooped in towards him for a quick second, almost grasping the boy's arm but leaving unsuccessfully. He saw its eyes though, they were an odd shining jade like color, instead of the normal yellow or orange that was frequently found in most phoenixes. It was the Phoenix from back when he was being chased. "Jade eyes." He mumbled as the sky beast took to the skies once more.


	6. Stopping Time

The Phoenix that flew above them had finally calmed down just a little bit, hovering over the boys to assumingely find a place to land. All four of them has spread out across the area, catching their breath as they eyed the dangerous flaming bird cautiously. Everyone expect Minghao of course. While they tried to run and take cover from the phoenix in the skies, he was staring up at it in awe.

This sky beast was the exact same bird that he saw when he was being chased by those boys, the only phoenix he had ever seen with jade eyes. Why was it here of all places? A phoenix with those eyes were rare, valuable, and most definitely belonged to someone with power. "That's... so cool." He mumbled, sitting on the ground as he watching the bird in the skies.

"Ming, what are you doing?" Junhui called, rushing over to boy as if he was about to die. Minghao only gave him an excited smile as he neared him, not moving from his spot as he sneaked glances at the phoenix high above. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? That thing could swoop down any second and kill you!"

"But it hasn't!" The boy exclaimed, suddenly jittery and excited at the mere mentioning of the phoenix that flew in the skies. "Did you see its eye color, Jun? It's green like jades! It's a rare type of phoenix, but I've seen it since before when I was being chased! It wasn't attacking anyone then, it had a rider. Someone was riding that phoenix, Jun!"

Junhui gave the boy a skeptical look as he grabbed his hand and began dragging him away. "Xu Minghao, you live in the Aero District. That means you see phoenixes everyday! What's so fascinating about this one that you'd risk getting killed by a feral phoenix just to look at it?" He questioned him trying to save his friend from a possibly life threatening situation.

Minghao didn't care. He honestly just wanted to see the phoenix up close one more time, to look into it's jewel like eyes and be able to say that he say a green eyed phoenix. What if he was just having some type of fever dream? Or he was daydreaming about the one he saw that day? Honestly if it did inflict pain on him and he actually felt it, it would confirm that he saw a green eyed phoenix for real.

"Minghao! Junhui! Look out!" Seungcheol's voice yelled out to them. The two glanced back at him before looking ahead, watching as the phoenix began to swoop down towards them with its talons out. It let out an angry screech as embers from its wings fell to the ground, burning the grass on the ground. 

Minghao instinctively raised his hands to his face, at least trying to protect his face from any potential harm. Junhui snapped his fingers, shadows creeping up his arm to his palms as he got ready to attack in self defense. "Stop! Don't attack him!" A voice chanted, catching the two off guard. Junhui didn't listen, an malicious looking energy ball forming his hand as he aimed it towards the phoenix.

Minghao noticed him, dropping his hands and grabbing the boy's wrist. Light flickered in his palms, invading the darkness that had formed in his friend's hand and practically engulfing it entirely. The two tumbled to the ground as the phoenix flew by, missing the boy's by a hair. They landed with a thud, thankfully that they had gotten out of that situation safely. "What was that?" Jun questioned him, giving him a skeptical look again. "It was coming to attack us!"

"Someone told you to stop!" He explained, getting up off the ground. Junhui rolled his eyes, clearly not liking the answer that Minghao had provided him. "I'm serious! I was only doing as told, plus what would you do if you actually hit it? You know how much the Aero District treasures it's phoenixes. One with jade eyes is no different." As if he has summoned the phoenix, the sky beast flew overhead again, covering the sun with its flaming body as it flew past.

The boys looked behind them, noticing a newcomer that was standing in the middle of the field. With many piercing dawning his ears and raven hair fuzzing and slightly burnt at the tips, he held his hands up at the sky as he urged the phoenix to come toward him. The mythical creature did as told, swooping down at an incredible speed toward the boy without and hesitation. "What is he doing?" Junhui mumbled, finally getting off the ground. 

The flaming avian stopped once it was close enough, hovering over the boy as it slowly deceased into the sky and onto the ground. Junhui and Minghao only stared in amazement as this once hostile beast turned docile, landing with grace and burning the grass into ashes. The boy stood in front of the phoenix, a soft sigh escaping his lips as he pet the bird's beak. "You're such a hassle," He spoke to the beast in a hushed tone as he tried to calm it down,"You didn't have to go and fly off like that."

"He must be a caretaker." Junhui commented as the two watched the boy handle the phoenix with ease. Minghao nodded, watching along with him. Since phoenixes and Aeroans had to live together, a position called caretakers had sprung up to enable the continued peace between the two. Whether it was feral phoenix or one tamed to live in the district with people, they made sure that phoenixes were well taken care of so the two beings didn't have to have a reason to attack one another.

It seems as though the phoenix they had met was under the care of a caretaker, simply gotten loose and flown away. "Thank you!" Seungcheol's voice called, hurrying over towards Junhui and Minghao as he addressed the caretaker. "We didn't want to harm the phoenix, so I'm glad you saved us from it." He explained, putting his shoulders around the two boys.

The caretaker glanced behind him, finally noticing the group that he had saved. "Ogboon? Oh he would have never harmed you. He's tamed phoenix." He informed, crouching down and pointing towards the sky beast's talons. "They've recently been trimmed down to size and he was taught to never harm a Aeroan. If anything he was just rough housing with you."

"If by rough housing you mean scaring the living hell out of me?" Seungkwan spoke, walking towards them with a cautious look on his face. His eyes scanned the phoenix for any sort aggression before making sure he was extremely close to Junhui and Seungcheol. "I think he needs a little more training." The phoenix must have gotten offended, letting out what seemed like an angry screech and it's jade eyes narrowing towards Seungkwan. It ruffled its feathers, the tips of them setting a blaze as the avian tried to threaten him.

Seungkwan made sure he was behind the three boys, hiding away from the phoenix that was antagonizing him. The group chuckled at the antics, finding it funny how the boy could talk all that yet cower in the presence of a phoenix. "Still, we appreciate you stopping him. I for one am not around from here, I'm just visiting for... some business." Seungcheol explained, holding his hand out to the caretaker. "I'm Seungcheol and these are my new friends, Minghao, Junhui, and Seungkwan. You are?"

"Jisoo. Friends call me Joshua," He explained shaking Seungcheol's hand in response. That was familiar to Minghao, but he couldn't exactly remember where from. He glanced towards Junhui to help him refresh his memory but all the boy did was shrug in response. It seems as though he couldn't remember where the caretaker was from either. "As you've met already this Ogboon. A phoenix I'm taking care of until his owner." He informed them, tapping the collar that dangled down from the phoenix's neck.

Minghao peered closely at the tag around the phoenix's neck, seeing some words written on it. It was like a dog collar, the name of the phoenix and owner's name and address written on it. Below the name of the phoenix he read the name of the owner, who went by the name of "DONG SICHENG". If he owned a phoenix and got it a fancy dog tag... Junhui and him would have to pay him a visit one day.

"Oh I know you." Seungkwan spoke, finally saying useful. Every one snapped their heads towards him, intrigued by what he knew. "You worked at that phoenix place... Check-In Transportation, right? That's the place that uses phoenixes to fly from the Aero District to the Pyro or Terra District." He informed them all, and Joshua simply nodded.

"You guys do that?" Seungcheol asked them, fascinated by what they do in the Aero District. "We can't have phoenixes in the Terra District! They're hunted down by phoenix poachers for money. It doesn't matter whether they're official or feral." He told them, shocking the Aeroans. Minghao couldn't imagine a day without seeing those sky beast flying above the sky or just roaming the district in general. The mere thought that they are even hunted down makes his skin crawl.

"Seungcheol is right." Joshua confirmed, narrowing his eyes at Seungcheol. It seemed like the boy switched into a hostile mode as he spoke,"We used to transport Terraeans to and from the district all the time. But then a poacher decided that they'd start hunting out phoenixes once they figured out their flight pattern. We had to shut down the paths in the sky that lead to that district because of it."

Junhui glanced towards Seungcheol, giving him a skeptical look. "Well then how in the hell did you get here without a phoenix?" He questioned. "If one of the only ways to get here was to fly, how'd you make it to the Aero District?" The Aeroans all turned to Seungcheol, needing answers on how the Terraean had made his way to the district when it's surrounded by deadly mountains.

He shrugged, giving them a sheepish smile. "I walked and almost died. But I've gone more things that would have killed me before. Trekking through some mountains is practically nothing for me." Seungcheol explained and it was enough for Minghao. The boy did have powers that were truly supernatural even if he did live in a world where everyone used magic. It makes sense for him to have a better chance for survival through those mountains than others.

"That's wild," Joshua mumbled but shrugged it off turning back towards the phoenix he was taking care of. "Well meeting you all, but I have other things to attend to. Like returning this pesky phoenix to its home." He explained to them, the phoenix letting out a loud and ear splitting screech. Minghao placed his hands over his ears in a desperate attempt to save his ear drums.

"Wait Joshua!" Minghao called before the caretaker took off with the phoenix. It seemed as though he caught the boy guard, as he almost slipped onto the ground while trying to climb atop the sky beast. He looked at the boy expectantly, blinking his eyes in confusion. "We are currently looking for some people with.... strange powers. Like Aeroans who don't control the winds, but something else? Exactly sure what though."

Joshua nodded, suddenly cautious of the subject that Minghao had brought up. "Oh... you mean people like Seungkwan?" He questioned, referring to the boy's mysterious toxin power. Minghao nodded his eyes sparkling with hopefulness that the caretaker might anything at all to help in their search. "Uh... I heard in the Terra District there's a crossbreed, a Terraean and Aeroan child. Maybe you should go looking for him, maybe the parents powers combined and he's someone you're looking for." 

Minghao nodded, thanking Joshua for his information. The boy flew off on his phoenix and he turned to look at the little group that they currently had together. "I think we should to the Terra District." He explained to them. "Joshua said a crossbreed lives there so he might have some odd powers that we are looking for."

Seungcheol seemed taken back by this. "Already? I have to— I mean were going there now? But it feels like we just started finding people here who are in the prophecy with us. Do we have to stop the search here now." Minghao thought about it, trying to see if this was a good idea or not. As Seungcheol was right... what if they were missing out on any prophets that might be hidden in the Aero District? But at the same time they already had a lead on someone from the Terra District.

"We should stock up," Junhui explained, catching both of their attention. "I mean... we can't use the phoenixes for transportation to the Terra District. Joshua said the skies towards that district was shut down. So we'll have to travel through the mountains to get there instead and that is a pretty long trek. Stocking up on supplies for the journey is inevitable, so that will give us time to try and search for any other Aeroan prophets."

Seungkwan snapped his fingers as a smile appeared on his face. "So basically what you're saying is...." He began, slinging his arms over both Junhui and Seungcheol. "We're going shopping."

 

 

"This was a stupid idea." Minghao commented, following behind the group. Seungkwan lead them through a market, way too excited to be looking around at all the things they were selling today. Seungcheol followed behind the boy silently and while he wasn't saying anything he did seem very excited to be looking at everything the market had to be selling. He seemed very interested in what Aeroans sold in their district, and kept picking out the differences between the Aero and Terra District markets.

"Do you want to die on that journey in the mountains?" Junhui asked, knowing smile on his face. Minghao only rolled his eyes at him, wishing that his powers would activate so he could mess with his friend. "That's what a thought." He responded, ruffling Minghao awfully long and already messy hair.

"What the hell?" Minghao mumbled, desperately trying to get his hair out of his face. Junhui laughed at him, rushing ahead of the group so he'd get away from him. The boy quickly made his hair more or less decent and began chasing after him, wanting revenge for his terribly ruffled up hair. "Junhui! Stop running so I can fight you!" He called, only receiving a giggle in response.

"Don't go too far! We need to stick together so we don't have to wait and regroup!" He heard Seungcheol yell, but he ignored him. He had a boy to catch and didn't need that Terraean stopping him. Plus Minghao knew the Aero District better than him, so if he did lose the group then he'd have a easier time finding them than the other way around.

Junhui continuously slipped out of Minghao's grasp, putting the former leper's skills to shame. It pissed him off even more when the boy decided to cheat, zipping into the shadows and disappearing almost completely. The boy stopped in his tracks, peering deep into the shadows as he tried to pick out Junhui from the rest. He struggle though, unable to find him at all. Minghao frowned and mumbled under his breath,"That little sh—"

"Welcome!" A warm voice exclaimed, catching Minghao off guard. He turned to see his side to see a little stall beside him, an old man sitting there with a cheerful smile on his face. The boy glanced down at what was on display, his breath stopping at the sight of it. It was jewels... countless amounts of jewels and gems just sitting there for people to admire. The poor leper instead of him yearned for everything he saw, practically trying to force him to take what was there.

Jades, Sapphires, Rubies, Amethysts, and many others were sitting on podiums and statues to display their beauty and sparkle. If he was the leper he was that long ago, he would have immediately snatched one up for himself so he could sell for some money. They seemed as though they had been polished throughly as Minghao could literally see himself in each and every one of them. "Those are... beautiful." 

The old man smiled, looking down at the jewels as if they were his children. "They are aren't they? I find every one of these on my own. I'm my own supplier." He explained to Minghao, picking up two gems that sat on top of the podiums closest to him. The podiums were titled BLUE LACE and ROSE QUARTZ, one a pretty shade of light blue and the other a pretty shade of pink. "These two... these two are my favorite. I like to call the blue one 'Serenity', because it invokes that feeling in a person."

The old man looked at the wonder in Minghao's wonder in the boy's eyes before taking the two gems and turning around. The boy was confused as he tried to peer over the man's shoulder to see what he was doing, before he turned back around and handed them to him. They had wire wrapped them and were attached to a small metal chain, assuming you to resemble a pendent. "Take it. You seem to like them."

"What?" He asked, shocked by the man's kindness. "Thank you very much, but I can't. I don't have anything to pay you with." Minghao explained, trying to give them back to the old man. He appreciated the offer, he really did. But he felt the need to pay the man for his belongings since the old man told him that he was his own supplier. Yet the man pushed Minghao's hand back, insisting on letting him keep.

There was scream that echoed through the market, making the old man and Minghao turn their heads in confusion. From out of the crowd came the three boys who were after his head, making a beeline for the boy himself. "You thought we wouldn't find you?" The leader spoke, leading the charge on Minghao. He cursed under his breath, not needing the boys to be after him while he was alone.

He nodded to old man, thanking him again for his kindness and pulling both pendents over his head to let them fall to his neck. Without a seconds hesitation Minghao began sprinting away, trying to flee from the scene one more time. Honestly... he had no idea why they wanted him dead that bad. He wished they'd just get over the whole situation and leave him alone.

He stumbled, crashing into a woman who he hadn't noticed was in his path. He clenched his teeth as he got back on his feet, going to mutter an apology to her quickly before rubbing off again. However someone grabbed his wrist, stopping him running off anymore. "Got you." The boy sneered, dragging Minghao away. He frowned, trying to escape his grasp.

He wished he knew how his powers worked, they'd be so useful right now. No matter how hard he thought about it, his hands wouldn't glow and burn the skin off of this boy that had him in his grasp. "Alright, I'm going to need you to let go." Minghao stated, stepping on the boy's foot with his heel. His short term captor let out a screech, letting go of him to check up on his injured foot.

Minghao turned to sprint away, but was stopped almost immediately. Another boy stood in his way, walking towards him and forcing him to back up. "That's some pretty necklace you have there." He spoke, referring to the pendents that dangled down from his neck. "I wonder how you were able to afford those." He reached out to snatch the pendents off of his neck, but Minghao dodged out of the way and placed a hand over the two gems so that they couldn't take them.

"That was neat little stunt you pulled," The leader spoke, pushing the boy in front of him to side so that he was face to face with Minghao. "The whole light trick. You got lucky that it caught us off guard." He stated, backing the boy into a wall so that he didn't have any there to move. A disc formed in the leader's hand, made of fast paced winds that could cut through steel itself. "About you show it off again to us."

"I can't." Minghao spoke, trying to move out of the way of the disc. "I don't know how I did it... I don't even know if I can do it again!" He told him, hoping that it would satisfy the boys wants. Though it only seemed the fuel their ego as the leader brought the disc closer to his face.

"Oh we can help with that!" The leader suggested, looking towards the boys who nodded in agreement. He turned back to Minghao with a nasty grin on his face. "Maybe if we injure you enough, that little power of yours will come out again. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?" The leader asked him. Though he wasn't really looking for an answer, Minghao continued to shake his head in disagreement. He held his breath as he braced himself for some sort of pain to hit him, cursing at himself for no knowing how to use his stupid powers.

"That's enough of that." A voice spoke, coming up behind the trio in with a disappointed expression on his face. Minghao blinked a couple of times to see Joshua tap one of the boys behind the leader, letting his hand linger on his shoulder for a second. The boy was going to tell him off, probably fight him for even touching him. Yet he stopped. The words that wanted to come out his mouth never came and the actions that were going to happen never occurred. Only a symbol of an hourglass had formed on his neck.

"Honestly you kids are much more of a handful than phoenixes ever are." Joshua explained, tapping both the leader and the other boy's back. Within a few seconds they were just like their buddy, frozen in place with an hourglass on their skin. The caretaker looked at the work he had done and nodded, satisfied with himself. "Come on Minghao, before their timer runs up and they return to normal."

The boy didn't need to be told twice. He zipped in between the frozen boy's and joined Joshua as they left the three behind. Minghao couldn't stop looking back, looking at the boys who posed a threat to him not too long along ago. "How'd you do that?" He asked, turning back to Joshua with wonder in his eyes. "You like.... froze them in place."

"Not frozen, paused." He corrected him, tapping his fingers together sheepishly. "I didn't freeze them, they aren't covered in ice. But I paused them, or at least paused their existence in this world." Joshua explained to him as they walked towards Ogboon, who was nestled in the middle of the road and blocking everyone's path. "They'll return to normal once that hourglass runs out. But for now they'll be like that."

Minghao nodded, taking a glance towards Joshua in awe and wonder. "So you're one of us." He told him, almost a little too giddy about figuring it out. "You're an unusually magic user, you're a prophet in the Divine."


	7. Trustworthy

Joshua gave Minghao a shocked expression, letting the words that came out of his mouth sink deep into his mind. There was a second of silence between the two as they climbed atop of the phoenix the boy had brought with him, trying to figure out what he said. When he reached out his hands to the caretaker so he could bring him up there, Joshua spoke again. "I'm sorry," He began,"I think you have the wrong person."

Minghao gave him a confused look, climbing on top of the phoenix and sitting behind him. "I don't understand. I saw you— shit!" He yelled, grabbing onto Joshua as the phoenix began to stand on its feet. The sky beast let out a screech, alarming anyone around them that the bird was about to take off into the skies. The boys who were frozen in time had thawed out now, chasing after Minghao until their last breath.

The leader glared daggers at Minghao, his eyes burning holes into the boy's back. Before they even had a chance to attack, the phoenix lifted off into the skies. He watched as the trio became smaller and smaller, turning into little ants that scattered out to find him. His grip on Joshua tightened, gulping as he adverted his eyes elsewhere. He couldn't wait till he got out of the district, they wouldn't be able to find him after that.

Soon the phoenix came to a stopping point, simply gliding through the skies instead of rising. It gave Minghao time to take in the scenery around him, watching as the clouds were just out of reach yet close enough for his fingers to graze. The mountains that surrounded the district jutting into the clouds where you couldn't even see the peak. He squinted, desperately trying to look at his surroundings despite the sun rays that shined in his eyes. "You get to see this every day?"

It didn't click to Joshua that he was speaking to him at first. He was too focused on steering through the skies without Ogboon getting too full of itself. "What?" The caretaker said when he noticed Minghao was waiting for an answer. He let the question flood back into his mind for a little bit before giving him a soft chuckle. "Yeah. I get to see this every day. It gets a little tiring, little boring, seeing the same skies all the time."

"You get bored of this?" The boy questioned. Maybe it was because Minghao had never seen the world from such a height that he found it mesmerizing. He leaned back, taking in the scenery around him once more. "God maybe I should just take your job. I'd love being able to be up here seeing the skies almost every day."

"It gets boring after awhile," Joshua told him. "Sure it's beautiful, but I fly up here almost every day. At one point everything just looks... the same." He explained, leaning over the phoenix to see everything below them. "The pretty blue skies, the towering mountains, and white clouds... they all become the same thing at one point. I can't even remember the exact point everything blurred together like a grey painting."

Minghao nodded in understanding as much as he didn't want to. He understood what Joshua meant, but that was also his opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions! But the thoughts on the views though? There was no way that the caretaker would be able to change his mind about such a masterpiece such as the skies. "Wait a second," He began, giving Joshua and skeptical look,"You changed the subject by flying up here."

"I did?" He asked, as if he was genuinely shocked that he had did such a thing. Minghao frowned, giving the caretaker an annoyed look. He knew exactly what he was talking about, he was just being ignorant about it. Joshua soon let out a small laugh afterwards,"Yeah I know I did. It just... didn't seem like the right time to answer that."

"What do you mean? Now is the exact right time to answer that question!" Minghao countered. He sat up on the phoenix, giving Joshua is full and undying attention. "You knew we were looking for the other magic users in the prophecy! You practically gave it away when you stopped those guys from almost killing me. So why are you trying to hide it now?"

Joshua shrugged as if he didn't really care. Yet his eyes were searching for the right excuse to give him. Minghao could see right through any of the new lies that the boy might come up with. There was no way he could cover up the time powers he had in his possession. "I... I just can't trust people with that type of information. I mean, what if you all were lying to me? What if you wanted to kill me?"

"Trust me," Minghao began, glancing towards the ground far below. "I know when someone wants to kill another. If anything, the one that they want dead is the tyrant king." His dyes drifted back up to Joshua, noticing the skeptical look in his face. The boy gave him a quick smile, trying to reassure him that they meant no harm to the caretaker.

His hands tighter around the reins of the phoenix, glancing down towards the flaming bird they sat upon. "I almost didn't get this job because of the whole... time magic thing. Nobody could trust me, they thought I'd abuse my powers to get my way when in reality I don't even know if I can hit its full potential. It's so... dumb. You know?"

"Hey, you don't have to worry about that type of stuff with us." He stated, putting a hand on Joshua's shoulder. "We're all weird, we aren't the norm. So you don't have to assume we'll walk out in you or kill you for your unique powers. We just want you to help us. We need you to help us." 

"That prophecy right?" Joshua asked and Minghao nodded in response. "Your quest to kill the tyrant king, that isn't a very easy task. No one knows where that man even is, the overseers of each district will probably have you captured before you can even find out his full name. Are you sure you're up for that kind of challenge?"

Minghao thought about it for a second, considering the boy's words. He was right... was he ready to go on such a journey? Sure finding the other unusual magic users from each district would be hard enough, but actually finding and defeating the tyrant king? That was a whole journey on its own. Minghao had practically blindly agreed to an impossible quest.

Yet also being a leper and gaining powers was strange. It was as impossible as their quest for the tyrant king's head. So maybe not everything should be immediately labeled as impossible. The journey and fight would be hard, but it will be doable. The Divine are able to do what others cannot just by existing. "Yeah. I'm definitely up from that kind of challenge."

Joshua nodded, his focus placed back into the phoenix. "That's all I need to know. Now hold tight." Minghao opened his mouth to question him, but he was cut off by the phoenix diving towards the ground at an incredible speed. The boy screamed, his arms latching around the caretaker in an attempt to hang on and not be blown off. The clouds whisked past them in a blur, the sun shining especially bright as they neared the ground.

The buildings began to enlarge back to their normal size, people no longer looked like little ants scurrying away in a frenzy. Colors began to desperate began into their original places as the phoenix let out an ear splitting screech, flying beside one of the mountain that broke into the clouds. "There!" Joshua yelled over the wind that blew in the wind. "A phoenix transportation site!"

It was Check-In Transportation to be exact. Minghao have him an odd look as the phoenix began to hover over the building. "I thought you said you were taking Ogboon home earlier? Why did you come here?" He questioned, narrowing his eyes at the Aeroan. Joshua only smiled at him as the phoenix began to descend, giving the boy no answers.

Once the phoenix touched the ground, Joshua popped off of it. Minghao followed after him, trying to be as smooth as the caretaker was. However when he touched the ground his legs felt numb. He could barely stand up straight without feeling the need to topple over. Joshua grabbed the boy's arm, preventing him from falling. "Riding a phoenix always feels like that the first go around. The usage of your legs aren't need in the sky, so they sorta fall asleep while up there.

"You should have warned me about this before we got off!" Minghao barked, hitting his legs in a desperate attempt to wake them up. Joshua only laughed at him, not taking the boy very seriously. After a few seconds of harming his legs, they had finally regained conscious and the numbness had ceased. He stretched his limbs to make sure nothing else was numb and stiff as he looked off into the distance.

They were on Mt. Hightlight, one of the tallest mountains in the district. It was also one of the most populated mountains in terms of phoenixes, the whole thing belonged to them. The only reason people come up the mountain is to either take in the sight of phoenixes living in their habitat or fly on a domesticated one out of the district.

"The Terra District is the closest to the Aero District, only takes a day to get there by phoenix." Joshua began. Minghao whipped his head towards the caretaker, confused on what he was trying to do. "I would tell you to start walking from the Aero... but that trek makes the journey even longer, taking about a week or so. I would recommend you a boat as there's a huge lake in between the two districts, but the Aqua District hasn't sold the Aero District a ship since we domesticated phoenixes."

Joshua sighed, crossing his arms as he looked toward Ogboon. "I'll just have to take you myself then. If I could get a few more phoenixes for the rest of your friends to ride on as well... I think I know another way to the Terra District without using the closed route..." He began mumbling things to himself, trying to plan out their journey as best as they could.

"Wait, you're going to take us? All of us?! You're going to come with us?!" He exclaimed, grabbing the caretaker by his shoulders. The boy was shocked but the sudden move but he nodded nonetheless, trying to keep all the information in his head at the same time. Minghao felt like he was going to explode, but in a good way. He had successfully gotten Joshua to join them and he was going to fly them to the Terra District.

"Hands off, hands off! You're burning me!" Joshua yelled, pushing Minghao away from him. The boy stumbled back, noticing the burnt up material of the caretakers shirt and the sizzling red mark on his shoulder. The boy glanced down to his hands, glowing with a dim light. Minghao put his hands behind him, giving the boy a sheepish smile. It was always when he didn't mean for it to happen did this magic of his start working. 

"I'll go find my friends! We need Seungcheol to navigate the Terra District, and the others are apart of the prophecy so they are obligated to come with." Minghao stated, slowly taking a few steps back. Joshua noticed this and nodded, shooing the boy off to go find the rest of the Divine. With that the boy spun on his heel and began dashing down the mountain.

 

 

 

 

A figure stood in front of the shop, his face covered up by a black cloak that fell to his knees. He stared through the window of the shop, spotting an old man standing there at the counter. The unknown man opened up the door, striding into the shop with his head low. A bell rung upon his entrance, it being the only sound to resonate in the room. He scanned the room quickly, before walking towards the old man at the counter.

His shoes made the floor creak, his presence alarming the old man. "What can I do for you, sir?" He asked, giving the man a welcoming smile. The unknown man didn't speak, only examining the person before him. Without a second thought, he reached out a hand and grabbed the old man's shirt collar. He practically lifted the man off the ground to make him meet his eyes.

"Enough with the tricks." He stated. Even though cloak covered his eyes, the old man could still feel the icy glare on him. "You know why I'm here. Close the window and lock the doors." The unknown man let go of him, letting the elder fall the floor. He crossed his arms and watched the man intensely, waiting for him to do as he said.

The old man frowned, getting up off the ground. "You sure go like being harsh don't you?" He asked, walking from behind the counter and towards the corner of the room. There laid a staff on a pedestal, a simple wooden one that looked like it had been worn out for some years. The old man grasped the staff, and turned towards the cloaked man. "I thought you'd like this little disguise. It wasn't recognizable by anyone."

The old man's appearance began to change, as if he had been rejuvenated with new life from a fountain of youth. He stood taller as his natural hair had been restored from grey to black, his face going from wrinkly and dull to smooth and lively. His height was even restored to him, but it wasn't enough to be the same as the cloaked man in front of him. The man ran a hand through his hair as he pulled a necklace from under his shirt.

Once his appearance had changed, he snapped his fingers and a whirlwind formed around them. It closed the blinds and shut the door, making the room eerily dark. After a few moments of silence, a small flame lit up on a candle in the man’s hands. Satisfied with the their new light source he placed it on the counter and turned towards the cloaked man.

"I guess you want a report, huh? It's been awhile since you've asked for one. Maybe five or so years, hm?" The flame shined on necklace on his chest, presenting the symbol of nobility in Aero District on it. It was griffin, the old protecter of the Aero District when the continent Orenda was split into several different kingdoms. “I must ask, why do these reports concern you now? Wait let me guess, you know they’re coming now huh.”

“Duke Chittaphon.” The cloaked man spoke,”You’ve been tailing that boy for years. I want you to tell me about what he’s done so far.” The Duke gave him a questionable look but shrugged it off. He stretched his arm out towards a book that sat on the counter, watching as the winds guided it towards him. He had been taking reports on the boy the man was talking about for awhile now, he knew they were going to come in handy at one point.

“Xu Minghao, right? For a good few years, he hadn’t shown any signs of using magic. He was true cripple he was, I felt bad for the poor boy at one point.” The Duke spoke, dropping the book in his hands and opening it up. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t slacking off for awhile, he wasn’t interesting. I didn’t know why you wanted me to follow that boy specifically. But then, it happened a few days ago.”

The Duke flipped to a new page, the ink still fresh on the paper. “I had hired these boys two years ago to try and put his magic into overdrive, he had to have some type of powers if you wanted me to follow him. They pressured him so much that the boy exploded with light, literally! That man had said, they were going to come when you least excepted it.”

“Your Majesty, that boy you wanted me to tail really was in the Divine. How could you tell?” The Duke asked, looking up towards the man. He didn’t give him an answer and the Duke snorted in response to his silence. “Anyways... you do understand what this means right? You have to stop the Divine before they come to kill you. You cannot let that man’s prophecy come true.” 

“I know.” The cloaked man replied. “I know good in well that they’re going to attempt to kill me. But I want to play this little chess game with the heavens. They really think I’m going to be intimidated by a few little pest coming for me? They don’t even know who I am, I could be right in front of their faces and they wouldn’t be able to tell.”

“If this is a game of chest, then you only have one piece. Your king. While they have an entire set on their side. The odds will be in their favor.” The Duke warned, closing this book and narrowing his eyes up at the man. What was he going to do? Sure the group of Divines were small, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t going to grow.

“I’ll put everything possible in their way, they’ll never know what will hit them.” The man told him, turning on his heel. “Alert the other dukes and duchesses of the three other districts that the Divine are coming. Continue to tail the little light boy. That will give me more than just a king piece.”

The Duke nodded in response, placing the book back on the table. Just as the man was going to leave, he called back to him. “What happens, if they defeat the other dukes of duchesses. What happens if they reach you, the Tyrant King? You’ll be cornered, check mate.” He asked, narrowing his eyes as he waited for a response.

The man stopped in his tracks, considering his words. The king turned around to the Duke with a smirk on his face. “Then I slaughter them all myself.”


	8. Phoenix Transportation

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Seungcheol questioned as the group walked up to the small path towards the phoenix transportation site. It dark outside now, near the midnight hour. They had been trekking the mountain for a while now, trying to reach Check-In as quickly as they possibly could. They had to be sneaky and quiet, as what they were doing was extremely illegal.

Joshua nodded, leading the group through the dark like he had night vision. "Yeah. It's also too late to back out now, we're getting close to the building." He told him, pointing towards the shape in the dark that grew bigger with every step. Minghao exchanged glances with Junhui, slightly worried about the outcome of their consequences. They were going to "borrow" some phoenixes from Check-In Transportation, just for a little while.

Joshua didn't have enough phoenixes for everyone, actually, he didn't have enough phoenixes for anyone to be exact. The giant flaming myth he usually rode on wasn't even his, he couldn't even take it out of the district. If he did, who knew what kind of bounty the owner would put on the boy's head. So he had returned the phoenix to its proper home before deciding they had to literally break into Check-In to use the other phoenixes.

"Minghao, do you think you can make us some light?" Seungkwan asked, picking up his pace so that he was walking with him. He gestured to his hands, knowing that it was a source of all that light magic he was able to do. "It would make this walk a lot easier, and I wouldn't keep tripping up on a bunch of branches in my way." He explained, giving him a valid reason for trying out his powers.

He shrugged, stretching his arms out in front of him. "I would love to do that, but I can't do it on command. I don't even know when I trigger it into happening. It only works when it wants to, like its a totally different entity and not just... apart of me." Minghao explained, thinking back on each time he had used the glowing powers of his. Every time he used them, it wasn't on command it was completely utterly an accident.

When he accidentally burnt Joshua, when he exploded in illuminating light in front of those boys who were out for his head, even when he radiated light when he argued with Junhui. All of those were mistakes. They weren't meant to happen on purpose. So why was it that all the irrelevant times for him to use his magic, he used his magic?! It just didn't make sense and it frustrated him!

"Everyone, we're here," Joshua spoke, standing in front of the transportation building. He peered through one of the windows to see if he could see a security guard of any kind, but it was pitch black inside of the building. Minghao looked down at his hands, almost glaring at them. He could be so useful right now and yet here he was. "No one is inside, I think we're all clear to enter."

"Won't an alarm go off if we just open the door?" Seungcheol questioned, looking through the glass himself. "There may be no one inside, but we're breaking into the building. Surely something is going to alert the owners." He warned, turning back to the group. They all sighed, realizing that he had a point. They didn't really think about the consequences of breaking in and trespassing on property that wasn't there's.

Joshua only smiled, waving his hands in the air. "I can control time remember? No one will catch us as long as I can do that." He argued before urging the boys towards the door. Seungcheol huffed in response before following after him, earning a chuckle from the boys who watched. "They've probably locked the door... does anyone have any idea on how to open it up?"

"We can use Seungcheol's brute strength or I can use my powers? Though I vote on brute strength I want to see where that goes." Junhui explained, looking up at the Terraean with sparkling eyes. Minghao slapped his arm, silently scolding the boy who only has him a sheepish smile. "I mean... uh... I volunteer as tribute to open the doors with my magic. It's definitely more convenient than busting them open with brute strength."

The group chuckled as the boy walked towards the door, crouching down to look through the crevice of the door. All he needed to do was slip one of his shadows that he controlled into the building and they were in. They all watched carefully, waiting patiently as Junhui tried his best to navigate his shadow beast without actually seeing what was inside. "I wish I was just inside... I can see better in the dark than the rest of you..."

Minghao caught his low grumbling but quickly ignored it. The door creaked open slowly and caught everyone's attention, making them all anxious on what was going to appear from the other side. A sigh of relief flooded the area when it was simply one of the little shadow beasts that Junhui had conjured. "Come on, I'll lead you all to the phoenixes that are held here. They're all domesticated and trained to fly long distances, so they'll be perfect for this journey."

Everyone trailed inside the building after Joshua, leaving Minghao and Junhui to be the only ones left outside. He began digging his pocket, searching for the pendants he has received earlier. "Oh right... Jun, I want you to have this." He pulled out the pink and blue pendants, presenting them to his friend with pride. "This nice old man gave it to me for free surprisingly. Pick whichever one you, I'll have what you don't choose."

Junhui smiled, snickering as he picked up the pale blue pendant. "I was almost proud of you, Minghao. I thought you stole something for once in your life." The said boy rolled his eyes, snatching away the pendant that was left behind as he shoved his friend to the side. Minghao threw the necklace over his head as he walked into the building to catch up with the rest of the group. They hadn't gone far, too cautious to really proceed in the darkness like this.

No one thought it would be a good idea to bring a lamp or something? They probably excepted Minghao to start glowing, to be their little light, but that was kinda... not working right now. "Just look for a giant flaming bird sleeping. The phoenixes will provide all the light you need once you find them." Joshua told them cautiously wandering off into the darkness. The boys watched as he disappeared and shared unsure glances with each other.

"You think if we hit Minghao hard enough he'll start glowing?" Seungkwan questioned. Minghao glared at the boy even suggesting such a thing, but he didn't look like he was going to take it back. He only stepped closer to Seungcheol as a nervous smile grew on his face. "I mean... it's worth a try, right? You said it only happens during irrelevant times so if I just punch you in the shoulder or something—"

"Seungkwan." Seungcheol hissed. The boy quickly shut his mouth, giving the group a sheepish smile. He muttered a quiet apology to Minghao. He only shrugged in response, giving him a quick glare as a warning before Seungcheol could catch him. "You heard what Joshua said. The phoenixes emit light, just search for a sudden light and you've found a phoenix to ride." He explained, walking off into the dark.

Seungkwa quickly followed, not wanting to be left alone with Minghao in fear of what he might do to him. "I guess it's just you and me, Junhui." He mumbled, turning to face his friend. Yet he was left alone in the darkness, unable to spot the boy anywhere. He groaned in response, grabbing the pendant around his neck as he walked into the darkness. "Well thanks a lot, Jun," he said with slight bitterness. He could have used his shadow friend's help, his ability to see better in the dark than everyone else would have been useful.

He treaded through the building alone, fumbling with the pendant nervously. It was so dark and everything looked as though it could jump out and kill him. Minghao felt like a child, scared of what he couldn't see in the dark. Who knew what was waiting in the shadows for him... prowling around and waiting for the right moment to strike. Maybe this is just a feat that came along with his newfound luminous powers? A sudden fear of the dark? ... did that mean Junhui was scared of the light or something?

Minghao stopped in his tracks, practically holding his breath. Something was close to him, making the floor creak under its weight. The Aeroan heard claws scraping against the floor, the unknown hitting up against the walls as if it barely fit inside the building. "Let that be a phoenix, let that be a phoenix. Please let that be a phoenix." He chanted under his breath, practically praying for his safety at this point. The boy slowly began to walk again, his pace much faster than at first.

He should be going towards the phoenix, but anxiousness was telling him otherwise. What if it wasn't a phoenix? What if it was something out to kill him? You could never be too cautious... right? "If it was a phoenix, it'd be glowing like a lantern anyways," Minghao mumbled, skidding to a stop and slowly looking towards the ground. Slowly, a light began to emerge from behind him and cast a shadow from where he was standing. "Ah shit."

He slowly turned around, coming face to face with phoenix. It was above average, absolutely huge! It towered over Minghao unlike any other flaming avian he's ever encountered and it looked pissed off. "Hi?" He spoke, his voice cracking at the worst time possible. The myth let out an earsplitting screech, clearly brimming with rage now that it's discovered his presence. "Ah, shit!" He yelled even louder, panic rising in his chest as he scrambled away.

Joshua didn't say that the phoenixes would be angry. Had he known that some phoenixes would also be roaming and not inside a shelter of some kind he wouldn't have come in! He dashed through the halls blindly, wishing his powers would activate right then and there. Why did he have to have the most powers to deal with? He could be so useful yet here he was, running for his life away from a giant angry phoenix. "Wen Junhui! Get your ass out the shadows and help me!" Minghao screamed, not even sure if the said person was nearby.

He took one fumble, and accidentally misstep while his mind had been preoccupied with running from the phoenix behind him. Minghao skinned his leg as he tumbled to the ground due to imbalance, forced to watch the phoenix claw closer and closer to him. He backed away as quickly as possible, finding himself bumping into a wall that stopped his movements. "Hey there.... pretty phoenix..." He stuttered, watching as the giant flaming phoenix trudged closer and closer to him. 

Thanks to its huge body, it's movements were slightly restrained. It couldn't spread its wings out to its full potential and it just barely fit inside the hallway the two were in. It screeched in defiance, snapping its large beak at Minghao as it tried to get closer to him. The hallway slowly began to catch fire the longer the phoenix stayed in the flammable area, but that didn't bother it. He lifted his arms up in an attempt to shield himself as best as he could, flinching when he felt the heat that radiated off of the phoenix. 

He slowly lowered his arms when he noticed nothing was coming towards him, peering over his arms to try and see what was happening. That's when he spotted Joshua standing right in front of the phoenix, his magic working wonders against the angry myth. "Rest," Is all that came out of the Aeroans mouth as the phoenix froze in place, its expression angry but no movements were made. Joshua did it again, saving him just like how he had saved Minghao from those boys who were hunting him down.

"You know you're a huge lifesaver right?" Minghao spoke as Joshua turned around, walking towards him to see if he was hurt. "You're ability makes you really useful you know that? I mean, you just stopped a rampaging phoenix from nearly killing me! You could be... a literal superhero. And everyone is superpowered nowadays." He rambled as he watched Joshua fix his wound from ever even happening.

He watched as the skin that had been scrapped off suddenly began to grow back at a rapid pace as if he was being healed. "I fixed the look of it," Joshua explained, sitting back on the ground. "But it's still going to hurt as if you just injured yourself. Your skin has been repaired thanks to me speeding up the process but the pain will linger just like normal." Minghao nodded in understanding, pouting slightly knowing that he was going to stuck with the pain.

Joshua then glanced towards the giant phoenix in front of them, frowning at the sight of it. "That phoenix was the fourth one we were going to use to travel to the Terra District. However, it seems as though it caused a ruckus and isn't ready to handle to people yet. So we only have three phoenixes to use for travel purposes. Unfortunate, really." He spoke, watching the time stopped phoenix carefully. 

Everything around it had stopped completely, not just its movements. The fire that it had caused was paused in motion as if it was just a little toy you could turn on and off. Joshua lifted himself off the ground and turned towards Minghao with a slight smile on his face. "I'll clean up this little mess here so this place doesn't burn down with the magic wears off. After that... are you ready to do some more phoenix riding?"

 

 

"Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!" Seungkwan yelled as held onto Joshua for dear life. The phoenix they were on was rowdy and friendly, running around the landing pad outside the building like a child. It must not have been up to Seungkwan's speed since he was screaming and looked as though he was probably going to vomit. Joshua only laughed as he watched the boy struggle, enjoying their little prance more than he actually should have been.

The group was getting ready for takeoff, mounting the phoenixes they could find getting used to being on them. Minghao felt like a pro as soon as he sat atop one of the ones Seungcheol and Joshua had spotted. Even though their phoenix was very tempted to join the other in the fun, it stayed still. It must have known two very inexperienced riders were on its back. "Sorry for disappearing on you like that," Junhui spoke, getting into of the phoenix with him. "I was really in the groove you know, I was in my element."

"Yes, you were so in your element that I almost died." Minghao snapped, still bitter on the fake that he practically disappeared on him. When he and Joshua had reached the others, the first thing he had done was yell out Junhui's name. The two chased each other around a few minutes as the Aeroan was determined to murder his friend himself. However, Seungcheol had split the two apart so Minghao didn't actually kill him.

"Are we ready kids!" Joshua cheered, a huge smile on his face now that he had returned to his element. He was the most skillful of the group when it came to phoenixes thanks to his caretaker background. So he was teacher Joshua today so they could at least get into the air. "Of course, what you're sitting on is a fireproof saddle so you don't your asses off. The reins on the phoenixes help you pilot them around and you'll be following me through the secret airway towards the Terra District."

Joshua glanced behind them expectantly as he finished off," and then he will be your guide to the Terra District the rest of the way." The three turned to see Seungcheol ride in on one of the phoenixes on his own. He was a little nervous and unsteady, his hands clenched around the reins tightly as he looked towards Joshua for help. Though it seemed the boy was leaving everyone to die as he only gave the Terraean a thumbs up.

"Are you sure he's going to be okay?" Junhui asked Joshua, giving him a skeptical look. The Aeroans would get the hang of flying phoenixes relatively quickly, they lived with them after all. But Seungcheol lived in a District were they practically didn't exist and were hunted down. It seemed like in trusting the Terraean to such a task on his own would completely backfire.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Joshua assured them, leading the phoenix towards the edge of the landing pad. "All we have to do now is take to the skies and go from there. Just give your phoenix a running start and it'll soar as soon as its talons can't feel the ground." He advised them, trying them as many tips as possible so that they didn't die. Minghao nodded in understanding as he was going to be the one who flew the phoenix for him and Junhui.

He cracked his knuckles as the phoenix backed up, getting ready to sprint off the side of the landing pad. "Alright, this shouldn't be so hard right?" Minghao glanced back at Junhui only to be greeted by the nervous look on his face as he held on tight to him. It didn't give him much reassurance to know that Junhui barely believed in his abilities to fly a phoenix. To be honest, he barely believes in his abilities as well.

The phoenix started running at full speed, sending the two off the landing pad faster than they had expected. It opened up its wings to stat gliding on the wind but suddenly pulled them in tightly to its body. It caused the two to drop down the side of the mountain at a rapidly increasing speed and sent their souls flying out of their bodies. "Joshua what the fuck?!" Minghao screamed as they dropped, holding on lightly to reins as his life quite literally depended on it.

Junhui was basically screaming in his ear as they fell, his grip on Minghao tightening in an attempt to save himself. The boy felt his hands began to heat up due to the sheer amount of panic that was coursing through his body. Smoke began to arise from the reins as his hands burned through them, but that was the least of his worries. Whether he fell off the phoenix or not, he was still going to die!

Junhui hit his shoulder rapidly as he screeched loudly in his ears. "Ming, pull up! Pull up on the reins, we're going to crash!" The bottom of the district slowly came into view, and they were going to splatter onto the hard ground if they didn't start going up instead of down. Hoping that his hands had burned through the reins, he yanked as hard as he physically could. He hoped that something was going through this phoenix's head that told it to fly up, because of not they were literally going to die in the next few seconds.

The phoenix spread its wings out once more and did a complete u-turn. They began rising to the sky at a rapid pace as if it was like an arrow being from a bow. The two continued to scream as they cut through the clouds like a knife, flying right past the landing pad like a blur. It was even more terrifying to look up than down, who knows what could happen. The phoenix could fly straight into the sun if it really wanted to!

"Stop! Glide! Start gliding!" Minghao yelled as he pulled on the reins again, praying that it would do something at all. He held his breath as everything became a blur and sound was practically cut off from entering his ears. The boy shut his eyes tight, in fear that if he opened them he'd find out he somehow made it into the afterlife. Yet he felt the wind brush against his face softly, meaning Minghao was definitely in the sky and not dead. 

He slowly opened his eyes, finding himself flying through the clouds and the stars shining through them. "We're... alive..." Minghao mumbled as he looked around, trying to confirm whether he was speaking the truth or not. He glanced to the side to see Joshua flying around with ease, enjoying his time in the skies while Seungkwan looked as though he might actually end up falling off the phoenix. On the other side of him was Seungcheol, letting out a sigh of relief that he too was still living. "We're alive !"

"God but not your hair," Junhui spoke, staring at the atrocity on his head. Minghao gave him a confused expression as the boy continued. "You're the one who wanted to grow our your hair like that, and I don't have anything against you. But this is why you need to cut it." His hair was tangled and tousled from the rising and falling speeds they had gone through. Minghao attempted to make it look better, failing in the process. It just looked even worse. Junhui snorted as he spoke," Once we get to the Terra District, we are definitely cutting your hair."


	9. The Hunters and The Hunted

Thunder roared as the group of five drew closer and closer to the Terra District. Junhui had fallen asleep minutes, leaning against Minghao's back for support. Seungkwan did the same too, but Joshua would stop every so often to make sure he didn't slide off the phoenix. Seungcheol was somewhere in front of them, trying his hardest to lead them towards their destination. However, Minghao could tell he was getting tired and needed a rest.

Yet dark clouds were slowly rolling towards them, bringing the angry thunder with them. They must be trying to beat the storm coming to them, as the phoenixes would struggle thanks to their flaming bodies in the rain. Minghao thought they should take a quick stop to rest and get out of the rain, but there was nowhere to even land. Everything below them was all lake water and that wouldn't help them at all.

In a desperate attempt to keep everyone awake for just a little longer, Minghao flew his phoenix a little closer to Seungcheol's. A conversation will keep everyone up for just a little bit longer right...? He glanced to the side to see Seungcheol bobbing between the dream world and reality, his grip tightening on the reins of the phoenix. "Cheol?" Minghao called to him, and the said boy snapped to attention almost immediately. "I've got questions, mind answering them?"

He nodded in response, relaxing when he realized it was just him flying near him. Minghao genuinely didn't think he was going to get this far though, so he didn't really have questions on hand. "Oh uh... well what was the Terra District like?" He questioned, fumbling with the reins. "It is going to be our first time going to a totally new district. And I'm pretty sure I can assume it's not like the mountainous, phoenix filled skies of the Aero District."

"It's... different. I'll tell you that." Seungcheol began, at loss for things to say. "A lot greener than the Aero District for sure, and instead of the whole place being one giant city, there's multiple little towns and forests before you get to the big bad. I lived in the biggest city in the district, Gaea City. That city... sure is something." Seungcheol explained, unable to pull his expression into a smile.

Minghao raised an eyebrow, leaning in just a bit more towards the boy. "What do you mean? Is there something wrong with it?" He questioned. Seungcheol didn't answer immediately, slowly drifting ahead of everyone subconsciously. "Seungcheol?" The Aeroan called again, getting the boy's attention once more. He seemed to be zoning out a lot as they got closer and closer to his home district.

"I don't know!" He exclaimed, frustration clawing at him as he tried to explain himself. "It's just... I don't know. It's just different. That's all, sorry." Seungcheol told him, trying to reclaim his collectiveness. Without a second thought, the boy dipped down near the lake below them and practically disappeared in thin air. Minghao instinctively tried to go after him but stopped as soon as he nosediving towards the water. His sudden movements must have awakened Junhui, who suddenly started clinging to him in desperation.

He glanced back at him, spotting Joshua following behind him in confusion. "What happened? I thought I was falling to my death for a second." Junhui spoke, holding onto the Aeroan's arm as he adjusted himself. Minghao flashed them an awkward smile, realizing the mistake he had made. He alerted everyone no reason, but Seungcheol just left them like they weren't the ones following him. Losing him would mean they had no idea where they were going (and Minghao wanted to apologize for possibly hitting a touchy subject)."

"Uh... guys?" Seungkwan began, his eyes staring up above them. "Please tell me we didn't fly right into the storm?" Everyone gave the boy confused stares, before looking up as well. Above them was the dark ominous clouds that brought rain, thunder rumbling throughout the area. Minghao resisted an annoyed sigh, getting ready to fly his phoenix right into the clouds to get above them.

"Bad idea." Joshua spoke, flying towards Minghao to stop him. "That storm is going to pour down anything minute now. Get that phoenix too wet and you'll be falling towards the ground with a dead phoenix on your hands. Check-In will be even more pissed off at me whenever we go back." He advised him, trying to keep his job and the phoenixes alive at the same time. Minghao nodded in response as he and Junhui stayed close to Joshua to find out what they should do next,

"Finding shelter for not only us, but the phoenixes as well should be our next steps. Waiting out the rainstorm so we'll be able to fly again with ease," Joshua explained, making up something on the spot, "I'll look for some nearby cave or island that we can land on until the storm passed. Junhui, Minghao, go find Seungcheol and tell him what's happening okay?" He asked them, followed by the two boys nodded their heads in agreement.

"You heard the guy." Junhui spoke, holding onto Minghao tightly so that he didn't fall off. "Time to go searching for the Terraean. Why did he fly off anyways? Isn't he supposed to be leading us to the Terra District?" He questioned and the boy gave him an awkward smile. He didn't know how to respond, did he want to lie and say he didn't know or tell the truth and say that it was sorta his fault for the boy disappearing in them?

Though he snapped out of his thoughts when the sky grew darker and the thunder roared loudly in his ears. "I don't know, but we better find him quick. This storm sounds like it's going to kill one of us if we stay out here any longer." Minghao mumbled as the two cruised the skies cautiously, trying their best to spot the flaming mythological bird and it's rider. Yet he could barely see anything, probably due to the fact that it was getting awfully dark as the time went by. The more light that disappeared from the area, the harder it got for Minghao to see. This must have been amplified thanks to his powers being associated with light, meaning his entire being depended on a light source if he couldn't produce one.

He felt as though his energy was being drained from him, a feeling he wish he hadn't felt before. Thankfully, the phoenix they were riding provided enough light for Minghao to not completely pass out while riding a top of it. "Wanna take a turn flying this thing? I'm getting sorta... tired now." Minghao tried to offer, but he noticed that Junhui's attention was elsewhere. His friend was staring deep into the dark clouds, his eyes lingering on one spot with a wary look.

"Someone is there." Junhui mumbled, holding in even tighter to Minghao than before. Minghao immediately tried to turn the phoenix around, not even daring to take the risk to check out what it is. He couldn't see anything, but he knew Junhui can. With his powers based on the shadows, it made sense that he could see better than Minghao could in the potential dangerous storm. So if the Aeroan said he saw something, it was not to be taken lightly.

"What is it? Seungcheol? A stranger?" Minghao questioned, looking up to his friend for answers. Yet when a loud roar boomed through the area, practically forcing the two have midair turbulence. Their eyes were glued to the figure moving within the clouds, prowling around them like a predator hunting down its prey. The phoenix sensed the danger hidden in the darkness, screeching at it as if it was trying to taunt it.

Which became the dumbest decision the phoenix could have made. "Manticore!" Junhui yelled as the creature broke through the clouds and charged at them. The two dodged out the way in time, barely missing the scorpion tail that tried to graze the body of the phoenix. Minghao gripped tightly onto the reins of the phoenix as the two tried to escape as quickly as possible.

Manticores were very rare, yet very dangerous creatures. The mere fact that they could run and fly at the same time was already scary enough for people, but the fact that they were used to hunt down phoenixes was even worse. It was rare to see a manticore but even rarer to see one hunt down a phoenix. Now Minghao and Junhui got to see it in action, and they were its prey. Just their luck, right?

Junhui grabbed onto Minghao's arm as tightly as possible to keep himself balanced on the phoenix, conjuring something up in his hands. "If it gets close enough to us, it'll try and strike with the tail. I'll try to keep a distance between us. You try to fly us somewhere safe." His friend spoke, his eyes locked into the scorpion tail that could take down a single phoenix in one blow. Minghao didn't even talk back, he sure didn't feel like dying after all!

"Get ready for a bumpy ride." Minghao mumbled as he pulled up towards the thunderous clouds, rising up in the sky. Junhui scrambled to make sure he didn't fall off, his feet slipping off the phoenix as they flew. The manticore roared in anger, following after them with wind breaking wings and out stretched claws. Water droplets splashed on his face from the clouds, signaling that rain was going to fall at any second. "Hang on!" He yelled as the phoenix turned right back around and nosedived towards the surface of the lake at incredible speeds, embers following its flight.

It confused the manticore for a second, only spotting a blur fly past it at a great speed. Junhui took the chance to attack, forming spears out of the darkness in his hands and throwing towards the manticore. He didn't get far, watching as the beast used it's gigantic batlike wings deflect the spears with just one wing beat. "Are you kidding me?" Junhui frowned as the manticore shook its huge mane and hunted after them again. 

Minghao bit his lip he flew close to the water's surface, skimming the water with the phoenix's talons. The manticore followed after, creating huge waves as it flew after them. It's scorpion tail twitched  as it readied itself for another attack and he felt Junhui tense up at the mere sight of the tail moving. "Uh, got a plan for avoiding that scorpion tails?" He asked as Minghao swerved with the phoenix, rising once more into the skies in attempt to gain distance between them and manticore.

The manticore persisted on its chase even as the rain began to beat down on the boys' skin. Minghao brushed his hair out of face knowing that it would block his sight once it got wet enough. "No matter how many quick turns I make, it's going to keep following us. I don't want to lead it towards Seungkwan and Joshua, but the phoenix can't stay in the rain for long." He told Junhui, hoping he had something useful to pitch into the conversation. "So I'm sorta out of options and hoping you have a suggestion?"

"Is killing it a suggestion?" Junhui questioned, his eyes wide as if he was genuinely thinking of taking on such a beast. Minghao opened his mouth to shoot something back, but was cut off when the manticore collided with the phoenix. The two boys screamed in panic as the beast dug it's claws into the phoenix, gripping into the flaming myth tightly as it flapped its wings to balance itself. Junhui tried to pry its claws off of the phoenix, even tried to damage the manticore now that it was close enough to them, but his attempts practically did nothing.

"We're stuck." Minghao mumbled as his eyes landed on the scorpion tail that raised over the manticore's head. However before the creature could strike, a person appeared from the back of the manticore. He raised his hand to signal it to stop its attack and the manticore obeyed their word. Minghao felt his hands burn with his panic and confusion, not understanding what was happening. Manticores aren't domesticated, they can't be domesticated. Attempts to make them obey orders from humans was simply impossible. The only people who were crazy enough to still seek the power of a manticore... we're people hunting other animals like phoenixes.

"This is one pretty phoenix you have here," the rider spoke, as lightning struck the waters below them. It illuminated the rider's appearance and Minghao caught the quick sight of a man dressed in all black with a serpent mask on his face to hide his face. Thunder cracked after the flash of lightning and the rider finished his sentence,"I'm sure this one will make me rich once I pick all it's little flaming feathers." The man was a Terraean phoenix poacher.

Before anything else could happen, another phoenix appeared from the clouds and latched itself onto the manticore. The beast let out a roar of pain as the phoenix wrestled with it, trying to wriggle the manticore's claws off of the phoenix Minghao and Junhui were on. The phoenixes combined fire seemed to throw off the phoenix poacher as he desperately tried to to slip himself and the manticore away from the two. The scorpion tail twitched and shot towards the second phoenix, stinging the mythical bird right in its side.

The bird wailed at the attack as the scorpion tail retracted from its body and let it falling to its doom. "That was Seungcheol's phoenix." Minghao realized, his breath hitching at the thought. "That was Seungcheol!" The phoenix the boys were riding let out a cry as it kicked the manticore away from it, though claw marks on its skin were oozing with blood and pulsing red with irritation. Minghao held onto the reins of the phoenix and dived down after the 

It caught his friend off guard with his sudden movements, looking back at the manticore and the poacher that watched the two silently. "You're not going to make it Ming, they've probably all crashed into the water by now! The phoenixes can't go down there." Junhui tried to tell them as the two of them rapidly approached the lake's surface. He wasn't listening though, as he was hyper fixated on saving Seungcheol.

Without warning Junhui grabbed the reins of the phoenix and pulled them up before they could crash. Minghao wrestled for control of the reins before the two stopped in their tracks, noticing the growing numbers of manticores and phoenix poacher around them. Junhui snapped his fingers and a shadow beast slowly began to form beside him, but it wouldn't be enough to fight off all of the manticores and poachers surrounding them. The man with the serpent mask flew in front of them as his manticore roared, watching them carefully for every move they'd make. 

"Hand over the phoenix. Or we'll take it from you, dead or alive." He demanded, lightning flashing and thunder cracking behind them. Minghao frowned, his head tangled with frustration as he tried to figure out what to do. They couldn't fight back, the manticores would kill them as soon as they tried. Handing over the phoenix would be mean no transportation to or from the Terra District anymore as well. They didn't have many options.

"You better catch us first," Minghao hissed was the phoenix let out an earsplitting screech. The two boys covered their ears as the shadow beast charged towards the leading phoenix poacher. It gave them a small distraction as the manticores fixated on it and dashed away as quickly as they possibly could, knowing that if they caught up they'd probably end up dead. Minghao grabbed onto Junhui as the phoenix flew faster, knowing the dangers of being slow, and yelled,"hold on! I think we're in for a really rough landing!"

 

 

"Seungkwan!" Joshua yelled, skimming the water surface carefully in the thunderstorm. They were being chased by phoenix hunters earlier and Seungkwan had slipped off into the lake. He didn't know if the boy could swim or not, so he was worried about what could possibly happen to him. It was hard getting the manticores off his tail thanks to the phoenix being a nature light source, but he managed to do it. Now he just hoped they struggled hard enough to give him enough time to find Seungkwan.

Though, he had thought about it for awhile. The phoenix poachers came out of literally nowhere. All he could remember before the sudden assault was rain pouring down and the phoenix becoming alert that something was wrong. But Joshua was sure that he avoided leading the group to the Terra District airway, they shouldn't have been able to find them like that. Maybe it was because they had those ruthless manticores on their side, that's probably how they found them out,

"Seungkwan! Where are you?!" He called once more, peering into the water to try and spot Seungkwan. Yet thunder clapped loudly in his ears and lightning flashed in the sky, forcing him to pull back into the skies instead of near the lake surface. If he was near the water when lightning struck it, they'd be overwhelmed by a powerful wave and pulled right under. He didn't want to deal with not just himself drowning, but a dying phoenix as well.

Though, as he peered into the water again, he noticed a shadow over him. The shadow of a manticore looming behind him to be exactly. Joshua watched as he saw the scorpion tail slowly reveal itself from the shadow and dart towards him at an incredible speed. Though, lucky for him, he was experienced in riding phoenixes and was able to zoom out of the way before he could get hurt. He turned to spot one of the poachers on the back of the manticore, the animal mask on his face gleaming in the rain.

"I don't really need to focused on that right now." Joshua mumbled before the phoenix was shoved into the lake water. He yelped at the sudden action and turned around to spot a manticore without a rider pushing the two further into the water, watching as the phoenix helplessly tried to fly away from it. Joshua scrambles towards the manticore, his eyes focused on the dangerous weapon it called a tail and placed his hands on the paws of the manticore.

"Stop— Ack!" Joshua yelled when someone suddenly forced him off of the manticore, restraining his hands and placing a knife to his neck. His breathing hitched at the sight of the blade, turning to look up at who had stopped him. Though it was just another phoenix poacher, sneering at him from under the animal mask. Without warning he threw the boy into the waters, letting him plunge into the anger waves below them. He held his breath as he tried to climb to the surface.

When he did break the surface and take a breath of air, he was face to face with a scorpion tail. He lowered himself deeper into the water, trying to not accidentally prick himself with the deadly tail. "Where is the last phoenix?" The poacher asked atop of the manticore. In its claws was his phoenix that he was riding, writhing around in its grasp in a weak attempt to escape. "Tell us, now. Or you'll face the wrath of not just our manticores, but our leader as well."


	10. Childlike Wonders

Minghao's body aching in pain, screaming at him to wake up from his slumber. Yet he felt paralyzed, unable to flutter open his eyes if he even wanted to. And he definitely wanted to. He wanted everything that had happened to be just some minuscule nightmare he was having. He wanted to wake up in the bed of the inn Seungcheol had been staying in. Hell, he wanted to wake up days before the divine prophecy even occurred, returning him to a powerless state of a leper. 

His wishes were not granted though. When he finally opened his eyes, he was greeted by a cloudy sky and humid air. No sunshine was able to reach through the clouds and the atmosphere was grey and dull, signaling that a storm was either coming or going. He lifted himself off of the ground, taking note of the bloody bruises on his skin as he glanced around. Where was he? A very thick forest he could assume, but where exactly? Was he near the Terra District now or did he somehow ended up even closer to the Aero District than ever before?

Minghao turned around to spot Junhui on the ground, passed out and unaware of what was going on. "Jun..." He mumbled, standing up on his shaky weak legs and stumbling over to him. "Jun, wake up." Just when he got close enough he found himself tumbling to the ground right next to him, out of energy and willpower to do anything else. He softly nudged the boy's shoulder as he laid there with him, finding himself phasing in between consciousness and sleep.

Before he could truly drift off into sleep again, a dim light caught his eyes. He looked up to spot a phoenix on the ground, barely clinging onto its life as its flames burnt the forest floor around it. And yet what used to be a powerful bird of fire had been reduced to a simple candlelight, its flames getting weaker and weaker with each passing second. It's injuries leaked with dried blood while one pulsed with an irritatingly bright red in the shape of a stab wound. It was the phoenix the two boys had recklessly flew on yesterday.

He forced himself to his knees, wanting to inspect the wound to make sure it was okay. Basically, anything was allowed to happen to the boys, but the phoenixes? That was a different problem. If one of the phoenixes ended up dying while illegally out on them then that was there fault. It couldn't be covered up as a simple mistake by Joshua, they'd go to jail for stealing and potentially helping out in the manslaughter. Minghao was already considered a low ranking leper still, so that would make it easier to pin the blame on him as well.

He stopped all attempts of moving forward when he spotted another animal making its way to the phoenix. It was a scrawny red fox, it's tail twitching in anticipation as it creeped up on the phoenix. Clearly, the mythical being was a new creature to it as other animals would approach the phoenix with much less caution had they previously had an encounter. The fox's jittery movements helped it zip and zoom around the phoenix, inspecting it without even touching it.

It jumped when the phoenix suddenly attempted to stand up, wailing in pain every time it moved. The fox scurried away in a hurry, suddenly spooked by the phoenix's sudden movements. Minghao watched silently as the giant flaming bird made an attempt to flap its burning wings and fly away, only to crash into the ground and set it aflame as a result. Both Minghao and the fox grimaced it the phoenix's unfortunate landing, unsure of what to do.

He pushed himself up once more to his full height as he looking around for anything that could help him. "It was definitely struck by a manticore... that wound is practically draining its will to live. I'm surprised it's even still standing... there's gotta be something around to make it stop hurting right? Or at least slow the process of the poisoning..." Minghao mumbled, knowing that a manticore's poison was basically a slow killing death machine. If the hit from the tail didn't get you, then the poison definitely will.

Though his search came to a quick close when he heard something growl at him. He looked down to spot the fox hissing and growling at him, its ears pulled back and it's tail twitching constantly. Minghao frowned as he took one step closer to the phoenix, watching as the fox took threaten him with bared fangs. "Okay, okay... I get it," Minghao told it, stepping away and sitting on the ground. It seemed as though the fox was guarding the phoenix from harm, but if he didn't figure out what to do soon the phoenix would face its demise.

Though he heard something rustle behind him, attempting to creep upon him. Whatever forest animal it was now, it wasn't as sly and sneaking as the fox in front of him was. "I'm not here to hurt—" he spoke, cut off by a pure shock of what he saw. It was boy, probably a year or two younger than him, staring straight back at him. He was practically covered in dirt with twigs and leaves scattered in his hair or stuck to his clothing. Minghao narrowed his eyes at him before speaking again. "Who— Woah!"

The boy grinned as tree roots sprouted from the ground, grabbing Minghao by the ankle and pulling into the air. He winced at its tight grip on him and got lightheaded and being hung upside down. The pink pendant he was wearing just barely clinging onto his neck. The boy let out a childish laugh as he stood up, picking out one of the leaves in his hair. He walked up to the fox petting it with ease. "That was a great diversion! Man, maybe I really should keep you around."

The fox leaned into his touch but the boy took his hands away quickly. The small animal barked at him to get his attention, but he simply ignored it. He approached Minghao with curiosity eyes, inspecting him like he was some sort of crazy phenomenon. "Well, aren't you new..." The boy mumbled, grabbing the Aeroan's face with both hands and squishing his cheeks. "You're so... lanky... and long. You won't do at all." He frowned, playing around with Minghao's arms.

He didn't have the energy with some kid messing around him. "Put me down! I don't have time for this. That phoenix—" Minghao exclaimed, yet was muffled by the boy placing his hand over his mouth. The Aeroan huffed in response as he watched the boy's eyes gleam with interest and greed. Before he knew it, the boy had grabbed ahold of his pendant and snatched it off his neck. Minghao gasped as he tried to get it back from him. "Hey! What are you doing? Give that back!"

"This is rose quartz, right? Woah... I bet this will pay a lot when I go back to the city!" He grinned, gripping it tightly in his hands as he backed away from Minghao. The boy turned his attention to Junhui, who was still laid unconscious on the ground and quickly began to inspect him. "Oh! He had a matching gem too! I don't know what it is, but I'm sure it'll give me enough money to try participating in the UTT as well." He explained, blurting out his whole plan to Minghao.

Minghao frowned, trying to lift his head up so that he didn't end up passing out from the blood rushing to his head. "Give those back, they aren't yours!" He hissed, trying to pry the root off of his leg. Yet it had such a tight grip around him that he couldn't rip it off with pure strength alone. He needed something strong enough to do it for him... or his magic powers. He wasn't sure how they truly activated yet, but having them right now would be very useful. He rubbed his hands together to try and create friction hot enough to make his hands start glowing and pressed it up against the root. "Come on magic, I really need your help right now."

"Hey mister," the boy spoke, making Minghao lookup (or down in his situation) at him. The boy had both pendants dangled on the neck while an innocent and curious look was plaster on his face. "Why are you injured? Were you just dumb enough to walk through this forest without knowing the dangers or are you here by accident?" He narrowed his eyes at him, flashing him a glare that would have been sharp had he not been upside down.

"I was with a group of friends at first. We were traveling to the Terra District via phoenixes... but we were attacked by hunters and manticores after our phoenixes." Minghao glanced over towards the phoenix, a frown etched onto his face when his eyes locked onto its wound. How much more time did he have until the phoenix was completely drained of its energy? How much more time did he have until the manticore's poison truly kicked in and finished off the beast. "We got separated, I watched my friend plunge into the lake, and now I'm here with no clear way to save the phoenix."

The boy's eyes followed Minghao's, staring at the weakened mythical bird. "Let me guess, some men in animal masks came and attacked you? Did their leader have a serpent mask?" He asked, glancing towards the Aeroan for his answer. The boy nodded his head vigorously as the stranger began walking to the phoenix. "You can't press any charges with them. They are called the Ode, hired by the duchess of the Terra District. She has very exotic tastes and phoenixes seem to fit her current agenda for style."

The root wrapped around Minghao's ankle began to shift, slowly digging itself back into the ground. When he felt its grip began to loosen, he held his hands out towards the ground. He needed to catch himself when he fell, not wanting to land awkwardly on his limbs. Once he was finally on the ground he turned towards the boy, who was cautiously scooting towards the phoenix. The fox by his side copied its movements, not wanting to be a victim of its wrath if it started to attack. "What are you doing? Just... touch it."

"I've never actually seen a phoenix in person, they don't live in the Terra District after all. Even if they did they'd be a very rare find since they're hunted." The boy confessed placing his hand on the wound. The phoenix let out a screech of pain at the slightest touch, attempting to wriggle itself away from him. Yet with a majority of its energy lost, it didn't seem half as threatening as it should be. "I didn't know if it was going to attack me or not so I needed to make sure before I started healing it."

"Healing it?" Minghao repeated, confusion written all over his face. "Wait... did you say the Terra District? We're in the Terra District right now? That means healing people are like... apart of your powers then?" He questioned, sounding just like a child getting candy. He couldn't help it, he had never been in another district before. Minghao could tell you all about the air magic that Aeroan possess, but was completely clueless on the powers of the other districts.

"Hush!" The boy screeched, placing a finger over his lips. "I need to concentrate. Healing others require the upmost of focus... and I'm one of those people who can't focus unless I want to win. This is not a game that I can win, meaning I need focus!" Minghao nodded in response, an annoyed expression appearing on his face for a split second. All he needed to do was tell him he needed concentration to heal people. He got all that information from his first sentence... everything else was unnecessary.

He sat back on the ground, watching the boy intensity to see what he would do. This was Minghao's first look at an actual Terraean use their powers. Seungcheol didn't count despite being from the district, as he was apart of the divine. However, now was his chance to finally get his first cool at powers outside of an Aeroan's expertise. He would be lying if he said he knew how he was holding all off hold his energy in.

"Ow..." a voice spoke, pulling Minghao attention away from the boy. He glanced to the side to see Junhui finally stirring, gripping his arm in pain as he tried to figure out where he was. He seemed quite calm about the situation until he noticed that something was missing from his person. "Where'd it go? It was just hanging on my neck earlier... it couldn't have come off in flight, could it?"

"Don't worry," Minghao spoke, scooting over towards Junhui quickly. "That kid has the pendant. He took it off when you were unconscious and took mine while I was dangling in the air from a tree root." He shrugged it off, though not as worried about it as he was earlier. Junhui was awake now, and that's all that matters. He was probably in pain just as much as Minghao was, but he didn't seem to care. That or he was just taking it like a real champ.

He nodded in response, narrowing his eyes at the boy. There seemed to be something conjuring up in his hands and Minghao quickly spilled out any words that came to mind. "Don't worry! He's practically harmless though. I mean he hasn't run off with the pendants yet... and he's healing the phoenix! I think he's just a good guy overall right now! Like what bad guy would heal our getaway phoenix?"

Junhui snorted at the boy, unable to contact his laughter at the sudden flood of words that came out his friend's mouth. "Okay, okay I get it. He's harmless." He replied, ceasing the shadows that formed in his palms. Minghao sighed in relief, glancing back over towards the stranger. He seemed to have finished his "healing", a grand smile on his face as he finally got to pet the phoenix without worry. "Is that a normal thing that Terraeans do though? I didn't know they heal others?"

Minghao shrugged as the boy skipped over to them, sitting beside the two. "I see you're awake," He began, glancing towards Junhui. "You were knocked out for quite a while... I thought you were just dead at one point!" He grinned hitting his shoulder playfully. However, his friend winced, grabbing his arm in pain at the sudden contact. He probably had an injury from their crash there, and the stranger just didn't know. He seemed alarmed by the reaction he got and gave them an apologetic smile. "Oh... sorry about that. I can heal you both if you want! I, uh, guess I'll give these back to you as well."

The boy pulled the pendants off his neck, holding them in his hands. Junhui and Minghao shared a confused glance with each other as they didn't do anything to get them back. They didn't threaten him or trade anything for their pendants back. Yet here he was, holding the pendants out to them reluctantly. "Oh... thanks? It's nice of you to just give them back like that...?" Minghao trailed off, not knowing the name of the boy's name.

"Lee Chan," He answered, dropping the pendants in his hands. "I feel bad for trying to steal from you after the Ode attacked you. I don't want to be that kind of person you know? Plus... the Ode has done much more than just poach phoenixes. And they're getting on the forest and my nerves."


End file.
